Bad Omens
by PeacesignPhsyco
Summary: Whenever Lauren Henson visits family friends up north in NYC, she figures it will be an average vacation away from her country home. But when she accidentally comes across the Turtles' mutant world, she embraces the chance to add some adventure to her normal life. Sadly, not all heroes come up that easily, and poor Lauren's gotta learn that the hard way... DonniexOC No flames! R&R!
1. New In NYC, Part 1

_PSP: Okay, so, before you guys get on my tail for starting a new story with my other two still in progress, let me say something. I've been working on this story for a good while now, and have a lot of it already written. Knowing me, there are no guarantees that I'll finish this stupid thing. I'm just an irresponsible kid. But I'll try my best, alright? I promise._

_With that out of the way, let's get this thing started!  
**I do not own anyone except the Henson family. Everyone else belongs to Nickelodeon Studios, especially April and the Turtles.**_

* * *

The young teenage girl exited the airport with her father, sticking close to his side. In her hands were an old birdcage with a beautiful pure black bird inside and a purple carry-on bag. From her shoulder dangled a patchwork messenger bag that hit her hip each step she took, which was fairly annoying her at the moment but couldn't be bothered to fix it or shift it aside a little. Her hair was very dark, at first look appearing black in its pulled back ponytail with a single black feather running through it. Her clothes were dark-colored too, all except an electric blue jacket that stayed tight around her. As she gazed at the big city that she had just entered, she knew she wasn't home anymore.

The girl was from a remote town in the countryside of Louisiana, and even had a lake in her backyard where she often fished. True to her hobby, she felt like a fish out of water in the concrete jungle. As she watched the cabs dart by while pigeons were practically perching on her head, she wished more than anything that she'd be back home, reading a book while her brother played around outside. The city just wasn't for her, she often said. But she had a feeling, deep in her gut, that this strange universe was different. There was something electrifying about New York City, mysterious and dark.

And she loved it.

"C'mon, Lauren. Mr. Kirby'll be waiting for us." her father said, snapping her out of her thoughts. She smiled and nodded.

"'Kay, Daddy." Lauren said, trying to walk a bit faster to the cab he'd hailed. Despite her sarcastic and rebellious nature, she found herself submissive to her parents and a few of her teachers. As long as she was portrayed as the good child, no one bothered her. And she liked that just fine. They loaded their luggage into the trunk and they were off.

"So, he has a daughter my age, huh?" she asked, trying to break the awkward silence as the cab drove through the thick traffic. Her father nodded.

"Yep, about. Kirby's an old friend of mine. He came to me for help when he was visiting down South for an experiment." he stated gruffly. Her father was a master mechanic, and was always up to a project like redoing the interior of an old house or fixing an old lawnmower. She loved his talent, and secretly wished she had it herself. "You were just a little baby whenever he came down there."

"Really? Did he bring his daughter?" she asked, an old memory resurfacing, but only snippets of it. A flash of orange. A touch of blue. Fair skin and a strong voice.

"Yeah, he did. Her name's April, I think." he said, smiling a bit. "I can't remember completely, though. I'm gettin' pretty old, aren't I?" He gave a little laugh, and Lauren followed him, giggling a bit. The bird in its cage gave a squawk, as if it didn't like being excluded from the conversation. Lauren smiled and scratched the bird's chin through the bars of the cage.

"Oh, relax, Poe. You're fine." she said as the raven shut its eyes happily and made a little chirp-squawk kind of noise.

"Here we are, West 4th and Bleeker." the cab driver said, jerking the cab to and abrupt halt. "Get out here."

"Thank ya, sir." Lauren's father said, getting up and exiting the taxi to let his daughter out. They quickly unloaded their bags and rang the doorbell of the old apartment building, shifting the bags a bit while they waited. After a minute or so, a young teenage girl with orange fiery hair and puffy eyes, as though she'd been crying, answered the door.

"Yes?" she asked, looking genuinely confused. Lauren's father smiled.

"You mean, you don't remember me, April?" he said. April's eyes lit up.

"Pat?" she cried, straightening and hugging him. "Oh my gosh! Hi! What are you doing here? And who is this?" A stream of questions flew out of her mouth and she gestured to Lauren, who simply waved.

"Whoa, slow down." he said, waving for her to settle down. "This's my daughter, Lauren. And didn't your father tell you we'd be coming? We planned this a couple of months ago."

The smile disappeared from April face, and she looked as if she was going to cry again. "Uh, you see… About that… I think you should come in and sit down." she said vaguely, stepping aside to let them in. They settled themselves down on a strangely dusty couch and listened to April intently. She took a deep breath and began.

"Alright, so here's what happened…."

* * *

"I'm so sorry." Lauren said as she and April walked through the streets that evening. "I had no idea what happened to Mr. … I mean, your father." April sighed and closed her eyes, as if remembering a distant memory. She'd explained what had happened to her father, what she was doing in her old house, and afterwards led them to her aunt's house. Lauren's father was currently there, trying to arrange reservations at a good hotel.

"It's fine. I have some friends working on it."

"The cops are your friends?"

"Uh, sure. The cops." she said vaguely, and Lauren immediately knew she was lying. She narrowed her eyes at April, but said nothing.

"So, does anything… out of the ordinary happen here?" Lauren asked, deciding to go to her favorite topic: the supernatural. April was now looking at her suspiciously, and Lauren knew she'd done something wrong. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"No reason… Why do you care if weird stuff happens around here?" she fired back. Lauren just shrugged.

"I dunno. Just interests me, I guess." she said, smiling a bit. "I've always had a habit of learning about the… _eccentric_ things in life. Thus explaining the pet raven and weird conversation topics." April was relieved that she wasn't a spy for her friends' enemies. That would've been disastrous. "So, what about you? What's life like here?"

"Like life." April replied. "It's really average, despite the… odd things my friends do every once in a while." This was a lie. Her life was topsy-turvy from the guys' constant missions, not to mention her kunoichi training with Splinter. "You must be so lost here." Lauren laughed.

"Duh. I'm used to trees as tall as skyscrapers, not _actual_ skyscrapers. This stuff is so confusing for me." she looked up towards he rooftops and saw a flash of black. "Hey, check it out. Some of Poe's relatives." When April looked at her oddly, she sheepishly smiled. "My pet raven. His name is Poe, after the poet. I'm a real bookworm. I thought that ravens don't hang around humans here like that, though."

"Normally, it is like that. I don't know what the deal is with those two up there." April agreed, carefully glancing back at the two ravens that flew slowly along the roofs they passed. Both girls began to grow nervous.

"It's almost like they're… following us." Lauren said.

"Don't be silly." April said, beginning to walk faster. "Ravens don't do that. Er, do they?"

"No. Ravens're scavengers, they don't stalk their prey. They wait for someone else to do that, then they feed on the remains, unless there's no one else around to do so. But seeing ravens follow you is supposedly a bad omen."

"That does not make me feel better!"

"I'm just statin' the truth here! Not my fault for superstitions." Lauren saw something ahead, and squinted to see it clearly. "Hey, that van is drivin' pretty crazy."

"Van?" April went pale, knowing what happened when a van showed up out of nowhere. "Is it white? Single symbol on the side?"

"Uh, yeah. You know-?"

"Quick! Run!" April cried, grabbing Lauren's arm and darting into an alleyway.

"Wha- April?!" she shrieked, trying hard to keep up with the older girl. "What's going on?!"

"Just keep running!" the redhead ordered, twisting through various side streets. Lauren realized the van was still following them. "Listen, when I say 'go', I want you to run the opposite way that I do. No matter what, just keep running until you get back to my aunt's house."

"What?!" Lauren exclaimed, looking at April incredulously. "You're kidding, right? April, what the H-E-double hockey sticks is going on here?!"

"I swear I'll explain later! Now GO!" she ordered, shooting into an alley on the left. Lauren, still pretty submissive to the strange girl, found herself darting to the right and streaking into a narrow alley on the other side.

After a few minutes, she stopped next to a dumpster and sank to the ground, out of breath._ April is freaking crazy._ she thought, closing her eyes and letting the coolness of the night calm her down. _When I get back home, she had better have a good explanation._ Then she heard a loud cawing above her, a cawing she'd recognize anywhere. Poe flew down in front of her, fluttering his wings to perch on her shoulder. Lauren smiled and scratched the bird's chin. "Good bird." she giggled, letting him settle himself on her shoulder. "At least you sorta make sense. How'd you get out here, little buddy?" She then realized she heard voices above her, on the roof. It was now dark out and most people around this part of New York were already home sleeping, so she wondered who could be up on the rooftops at this hour talking about… pizza?

"So, do you guys want some pepperoni, or meat lover's?" a young voice wondered. Another voice groaned.

"We have better things to worry about than pizza, Mikey." the second voice said. The first voice gasped.

"There are?!" Mikey gasped. She rolled her eyes and laughed. This guy was pretty funny.

"Yes! Like, where's April? She was supposed to meet us here thirty minutes ago." the second voice sighed. Lauren gasped. They knew April! She had to go up there and tell them what happened. As she snuck up the fire escape with Poe, careful not to make any noise to wake the sleeping civilians, she listened in on the conversation on the roof.

"She probably just got caught up doing something, Donnie." another, calmer voice reasoned. The second voice, Donnie, sounded as if he was getting really worried.

"You know that the Kraang are out for her, Leo! If she was caught…" Donnie trailed off anxiously. "And where's Raph? He should've been here by now."

"Yo, dorks!" yet another voice called out, a solid thud as he landed on something. Lauren supposed this was Raph. "Look what I found!"

"Mutagen!" Donnie gasped.

"Shiny!" Mikey cried, and there was a loud scuffle while Lauren finally reached the top of the escape. She gasped at the sight she saw.

Turtles. Giant, talking mutant turtles. With ninja weapons. There were two frozen in the middle of a fight, a glowing canister in one's grasp. The other two were standing there, staring at her while motionless in a position to break the fighting two up. Lauren gulped and froze where she was. Her mouth opened and closed to form words, but nothing came out. Finally, she stammered out an incredibly intelligent statement.

"Uh… Am… I interruptin' something?"


	2. New in NYC, Part 2

They continued to stare at each other until the orange-masked one decided to do something. He unfroze and rushed up to her, smiling amiably.

"I'm Mikey!" he said happily. Unfortunately, this startled her and caused her to take a fearful step back. He looked at her innocently and reached out a hand. "Hey, don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you…."

"Mikey, step away from the poor girl. Your ugliness is scaring her to death." the red one called out. This snapped Lauren out of it, who put her hands on her hips. She didn't take kindly to people who insulted others like that.

"I'm fine." she snapped, turning to Mikey and smiling. "My name's Lauren. I'm friends with your friend April."

"How did you know we were friends with April?" asked the purple one, who she guessed was Donnie due to his unique voice. He seemed suspicious of her.

"Ah, let's just say just 'cause you have a good outside voice, doesn't mean you should use it." she said, crossing her arms. "What are you? And who're you?"

"We're turtles!" Mikey said happily, and Lauren smiled at his enthusiasm.

"Eh, I kinda figured that."

"Why do you speak like that? Is something wrong with your voice? What's that weird bird doing on your shoulder?" he asked, clearly excited to meet her. Donnie walked up and pulled him away from her by the bandanna.

"It's called an accent, shell brain." he said, rolling his eyes. "She's from the South, I presume?" he asked, looking at her expectantly. She crossed her arms and glared.

"Hey, I ain't got no Southern accent." she snapped. "I may be from the South, but I ain't got no dang accent." Lauren then paused, and sighed in defeat. "Okay, so maybe I have a little Southern accent. And Poe here's my pet raven. But back to April."

"What do you know about her? Why hasn't she met up with us?" the one in the blue mask said, pushing to the front of the group. He was clearly concerned.

"We were talkin' about how these two ravens following' us were a bad omen when this crazy speedin' van comes out of nowhere, so she drags me along all over the freakin' city and tells me to run back to her house." Lauren sighed. "I ran into this alley and overheard you guys talkin' about her, so I climbed up here to tell you. I just wasn't expectin'…" she hesitated, "Er, this."

"Do you know where she is?" Donnie asked hopefully. She shook her head solemnly.

"Sorry. She told me to go the opposite way she went, and I don't even know where _I_ am." Lauren shrugged. "I'm worried for her too. Who were those guys in the van?"

"What did the van look like?"

"Er, white, single insignia on the side. Pretty plain, no company name." she said, thinking hard.

"Kraang." they all agreed. She stared at them, confused.

"Ka- what now?" she stammered. "What's goin' on here? And what's that glowin' stuff?" Donnie opened his mouth to reply, but she stopped him before he said anything. "And don't you dare give me any of that junk about an explanation later. I want to know _now._ What's happened to her?" After a second of hesitation, Donnie glanced uneasily at the blue masked one she finally decided was Leo. Leo looked appalled at what Donnie was suggesting.

"No way, Donnie! You can't be serious, we're not telling her!" he stated. Lauren scowled at him and took a step closer, ignoring the fact that he had long, sharp-looking swords at the ready.

"Listen, I just ran ten freakin' blocks just 'cause April wanted me to be safe from whatever would happen to her. If she saved me, now is the time to return the favor. But in order to understand and help in this situation, I'm gonna need to know just what the heck is goin' on here. Am I clear?" she growled, her voice portraying utter annoyance and threat, yet calmness and control. Leo looked a bit taken aback by her sudden mood swing. He let out a sigh of defeat.

"If we want to find her, we have to now. Donnie, explain it to her on the way. We've got to get going." he ordered, taking off and jumping to the next rooftop. Lauren smiled and followed their suit.

"Tha's what I thought." she muttered under her breath, watching as Poe suddenly launched off of her shoulder to follow them by flight. "So, who're these Kraang guys?"

"Aliens from another dimension. They created that glowing stuff over there, mutagen, and for some reason are out to get April. Why is still under investigation." Donnie replied, surprised at how well the girl kept up with the ninjas. She smiled, sensing his shock.

"While you Northerners are the smart ones with your museums, we Southerners are the ones with the sports and game." she laughed. "I've been training and running track like this since I was in grade school. Anything else I need to know about this stuff?"

"April's father was kidnapped by them."

This seemed to slow Lauren's progress a bit. She stumbled over a ledge, but caught up to Donnie once again. "H-He was? Did they… y'know…?" She dragged a finger over her neck, going pale in the moonlight. Donnie immediately shook his head.

"No, no, they're just keeping him hostage. Since he's a scientist, he's useful to modify their mutagen so that they can mutate everyone on the planet and inhabit it." Lauren nodded thoughtfully.

"I see… Is it easy to find them?"

"They all look the same, due to their human disguises, and are often mistaken as triplets or quadruplets."

"Okay, so, let me go over this again real quick- Aliens from another dimension are trying to mutate the entire planet, inhabit it, and capture April, while teenage mutant ninja turtles try to stop them." She smiled and laughed. "Well, this is certainly gettin' interestin'."

"You mean, you're not… freaked out by us?" the red one, Raph, wondered.

"Dude, I read horror stories and take pride in seein' the weirdest things out there. You guys are nothin' compared to what I've seen."

"Really? Cool!" Mikey said. "What weirder things have you seen than us?"

"Hmm…" she murmured, thinking hard. "I've seen… a two headed catfish, a skinned squirrel, and a cow with only one giant eye socket but two eyeballs smushed in there." She shuddered at the latter. "Man, that was freaky. But bottom line, you guys're pretty normal in my sight. Anyways, I don't think you formally introduced yourselves?"

Donnie then proceeded to introduce his brothers. There was Leonardo, who was their appointed leader. He was strong-spoken and patient, Lauren noticed, but there was something about him that made her feel like he was a superior. He was the one who wore the blue mask, as she had presumed. Two sharp-looking katana blades were strapped to his shell.

There was the second oldest, Raphael, next. He was the one who wore the red bandanna, as she'd guessed, and used a pair of sais as weapons. He was a brawler, short tempered and strong. He seemed to be constantly messing with his brothers, older and younger, though it seemed he liked to tease Mikey the most.

Donatello himself was the third oldest with his purple bandanna, and used bo staff as his weapon of choice. He was classified as 'the nerd' of the group, as he was always working on his projects and machines. Whenever Lauren heard that he was a mechanic, she remembered her father and his workshop back home. She'd have to tell him about it later. He seemed shy and soft-spoken, thoughtful and a good listener. She liked him already.

Last but not least, there was orange-masked Michelangelo who was the youngest brother. He was immature and silly, not the sharpest knife in the drawer but very creative. He fought with his Kusarigama, nunchucks that could extend into a blade connected to a chain. She sensed that although he didn't seem to enjoy learning, he had the most raw talent of his brothers. Before she could comment on any of this, Leo interrupted them.

"We're here." he said, and all four others skidded to a stop at the edge of a parapet. Poe fluttered down onto Lauren's shoulder, and she gently shushed the bird. They looked down to see the Kraang's van parked in front of an alley, two men dragging April behind them.

"April!" Donnie cried, jumping down to save her before the others gave him any warning not to. Leo sighed in exasperation.

"I had a feeling he'd do that. Lauren, take the mutagen and stay out of the way." he ordered, Raph thrusting the canister into her hands. She nodded and jumped down into an adjacent alleyway, in sight of the Turtles but safe from the Kraang. She decided this was her time to inspect the mutagen up close.

As she watched the darker spots of blue swim through the glowing sky blue liquid, she heard two ragged caws above her. When she looked up, the two ravens that had followed her and April only an hour or so before were perched above. She glared at them, remembering the bad omens they sent, then looked down to Poe, slightly strolling forwards.

"See those two up there? Can you go tell 'em to fly off?" she asked her bird friend, and the raven immediately took off to the roof in obedience. "Thanks, Poe! Now, let's see what this- GAH!" she cried as she tripped over an old brick that had somehow fallen from the building besides her. Fortunately, the mutagen was still safe in her hands.

"Oh, thank God, it's safe." she sighed, getting up, but then making the mistake of taking a step back. The mutagen flew from her hands and then up into the air where it came down across her chest, shattering the glass and covering her with the slimy substance. She screamed as her body began to go numb and she felt herself freeze in place, unable to move. She could only watch helplessly as she mutated before her very eyes.

She felt two new appendages grow out of her back, staring as they took shape into bones and feathers. Pitch black feathers. Her lips hardened and blackened, becoming sharp. Her hands and feet formed into claws- no, _talons_ that had razor sharp points on them where fingers and toes once were. Her arms, legs, and torso ached where new feathers had sprouted up. Her tailbone especially hurt, as long dark covert feathers had shot out there to form a wedge-shaped tail. All of this happened in a few seconds, and when it was finally over, she collapsed to the ground, staring at her new talons in front of her as if they weren't real. They couldn't have been. But as she stared into a puddle of water besides her, she couldn't have heard a worse word right then than 'reality.' She was a giant mutant raven, wings and all.

Donatello burst into the alley, staring at the new mutant. He had heard a terrified scream and had to make sure the new girl was okay. As he caught sight of the mutant raven who was staring blankly ahead into the darkness of the alleyway, thoughts raced through his mind. Who was this girl? Where was Lauren? Then he noticed the broken canister and shattered glass beside her and realized the truth. This girl _was_ Lauren.

"I-I'm sorry, Donatello." she stammered, still looking a bit too shocked. Her voice didn't even sound like hers any longer- it was now all raspy and dried out. "I-I tripped over the bricks, and- an' then-" She whimpered, a bit scared that he'd be furious.

"It's alright." he quickly said, hearing her fear as the hectic scene grew more crazy by the second. "Listen, just- just calm down, okay? Stay put. We need to finish up with the Kraang. Then we'll deal with your… problem. I'll be right back." He rushed back into battle, leaving Lauren in distress. She sighed and smoothed down her new breast feathers. All of this stuff was making her wilf, a word she'd created to describe the action of a bird folding in its feathers to make it seem smaller when scared or ashamed. Poe had done it every once in a while, but only so often because her bird was brave. She began to inspect herself closely, trying to comprehend her new body.

First, let's see what was movable. She rolled up the sleeve of her jacket, staring at the new feathers. She poked at them, prodding and trying to move them like new appendages. It seemed to work, as the feathers ruffled a bit, startling her and making her yelp. Next were her tail feathers. It moved up and down, side to side. Of course they did, she'd need them to fly. Then, of course, were her wings. She unfolded them, as after she'd mutated they'd folded themselves tightly against her back by instinct. They were a good eight feet wide, with black feathers to match those on her body. Her lips, she realized as she touched them in fascination, had become a hard black substance, like a beak. Her fingers were now talons, incredibly sharp and deadly ones at that. The feather in her hair had melded with her scalp, so it was a part of her now, apparently.

"Psst! Lauren!" a voice whispered. Lauren looked around, snapping out of her thoughts.. Who was that? "Psst! Up here!" She looked up to the roof that Poe had disappeared above. That's where the voice was. "C'mon up! I need to show you something!"

"Uh…" Lauren murmured, not sure what to do. She'd never had much experience with stranger danger, as her town didn't have many problems with muggers and strangers. Drunk drivers and robbers? Totally. But no muggers and strangers that leaped out of the dark. In the end, she decided that if it really was a mugger, he'd flee from her new form, so she scaled the fire escape to the roof.

When she reached the top, there was no one there, except herself and three ravens, one of them Poe. No humans to whisper directions to her.

"Hello? Is anyone up here?" she called out. When no reply came back, she sighed. "Hello?"

"Over here!"

Her head snapped towards the ravens, and she rushed over to look behind them. "What? Who-?" But there wasn't anyone there.

"I'm right here! I need to show you something, Lauren! What are you looking for?"

Lauren stood straight, slowly turning to the ravens. Poe hopped out in front of them, making a face that was as close as a bird could get to a surprised face.

"Did… Did you…?" she whimpered, shocked beyond belief. Poe nodded, regaining his cool.

"You understand me!" he laughed. Lauren took a deep breath.

"Please tell me I'm dreaming. That my bird isn't talking to me. Because I really need it right about now."

"Sorry, but I'm no liar."

"Dang it." she muttered, sitting on the parapet besides him. "So, when exactly did you start speaking English?"

"I don't think he is." one of the other ravens, this one male, croaked. "Sounds to me like he's speaking basic Cavakian. We all do, including you, amazingly."

"Cavakian?" Lauren wondered aloud. "What the heck is Cavakian?"

"The language you're speakin' right now, featherbrain!" the other raven cawed. This bird was female. "And to think that you humans are the dominant species… hah!" She scoffed. Poe did something similar to rolling his eyes.

"Hey, humans are great, birdbrain! I bet you don't even know what arithmetic is!"

"Arithma- what?"

"See?" Poe retorted. "Sorry. These two featherheads are the ones that followed you around earlier."

"What are your names?" Lauren asked the two ravens that were supposedly stalking April and her earlier. The two looked confused.

"Names? What are names?" the male asked.

"You know, names. The title you use to call one another."

"I… don't think we have names." he said. "They sound nice, though. We only call each other brother and sister. That's about it."

"Yeah! I wonder if we can still get a name… What are your names?" the female asked. Lauren smiled.

"My name is Lauren, and this is my friend Poe." she stated, gesturing to the named bird. "And of course you can still have a name. What do you want it to be?"

"Hmm… I don't know." the female sighed. "I can't really think of one. You seem to know a lot about names, though."

"Hey! How about you name us?" the male squawked. "Since you know so much about them?"

"I can try." she shrugged, thinking about her Edgar Allen Poe stories. "Hmm… You, the female one, can be called Lenore." Lenore let out a little churr of happiness.

"Lenore! Oh, I love it! It sounds so… royal! And elegant!" she laughed, flying a bit and then settling down on the ledge again. Lauren laughed.

"Yes, it does sound nice, don't it? And you, the male raven, can be called… Edgar." Edgar looked a little less pleased.

"I dunno, I like it an' all, but… it just doesn't sound right. Too… formal. Too long."

"Hmm… I think what you need is a nickname. A nickname is like a shorter version of your name, like Gabrielle can become Gabi. So, instead of calling you Edgar, we can call you… Ed! Or, um… Eddy!"

"Eddy!" he cawed. "That's much better! Eddy! Perfect! Hear that, Lenore? I'm Eddy!"

"I think I'll stick to my regular name. I don't want to ruin my name with a nickname." she replied. Lauren smiled at the sight of them discussing their names. These two acted like they were little kids talking about a toy.

"Now that we have that all straightened out, it's nice to meet you, Eddy and Lenore."

"Nice to meet you too, Lauren and Poe." Eddy cawed. "Say, who are those guys?"

"They look like giant turtles! Except for the human." Lenore agreed. Lauren turned around to see the Turtles and April staring at her oddly. Apparently, the battle was over. She turned back to the ravens.

"Uh, I've gotta go. Goodbye, now." she said quietly. Lenore and Eddy cawed happily.

"Goodbye, Lauren and Poe! And thank you for giving us our names!" Lenore said cheerily. As the two flew off, she turned back to the Turtles and April.

"Hey, guys! Er, sorry about the mutagen thing, again…" she said nervously, rubbing the back of her head. Everyone was silent for a few seconds.

"Dude, April, your friend from the South can speak bird!" Mikey finally cried. Lauren looked confused.

"What d'you mean? Poe? Do you know what they're talking about?" she asked, looking back up to her bird. Mikey pointed at her.

"See? You did it again! She did it again!"

"I don't know what you're talking about! I'm just speaking English!" she cried.

"Actually, it looks like when you speak to your bird, you speak raven." Donnie said. "You start making these weird sounds, like squawking and cawing."

"Wha-" she began again, but then remembered what Eddy had said about Cavakian. It all became clear now. "Guys… it's not called 'speaking raven.' It's called Cavakian. The birds told me so. Right, Poe?" Poe nodded as her crowd watched and stared.

"This just got about ten times weirder." Raph muttered. "Anything else new?"

"I've got wings." she said, trying hard to retain her giggles. Her wings had been folded against her back the entire time, hidden from view. She now unfolded them to their full wingspan. "Unfortunately, I don't know how to fly yet, so these things aren't in any use right now."

"Your dad is going to kill me." April sighed after a silent moment of staring at their odd friend. "We were supposed to be home by the time the sun set." Lauren only gave her a little smile.

"April, do you know the building we're standing on?"

"No, why should I?"

"Just thought it would be important." she said nonchalantly. "But you might want to follow me." She walked over to the edge of the building and dropped onto a balcony below, April and the Turtles not to far behind. Lauren unlatched a window and showed April the inside with a smile on her face. "Now do you know where we are?"

"Oh thank goodness." April sighed. In the heat of the battle, April hadn't noticed that the building they were on top of was her aunt's. They were home already, and the window Lauren had opened was the one to April's room. They could just say that they'd been in there all along.

"So, what about the fact that I'm a mutant now? What do I do?" Lauren asked, twirling a molten feather in her talons. "Should I tell someone? Get it fixed?"

"No." all of the others said at once, startling her. She and Poe both let out little squawks of surprise. "You can't tell anyone about your mutation, or us." Leo said strictly. Lauren nodded.

"Right. Ninja mutants. Got it." she said. "But… how am supposed to hide the fact that I'm a mutant raven girl?"

"Well, if you wear a coat or long sleeves with pants, I'm sure we can hide your feathers. Gloves should hide the talons." April commented, looking at her up and down thoughtfully. "Not sure how to hide the beak lips, though. Maybe lipstick?"

"No." Lauren immediately said. "If I start wearing lipstick, they'll know somethin's up. I'll just tell him it's this new black pigmented lip balm or something. I can fold my wings against my back to hide them." She then hesitated. "And… about you guys… what if I made people believe you were made-up? Then would you let me, you know, make stories?"

"Why would you want to do that?" Mikey asked.

"Well, I'm sort of an amateur author… I've been running low on creative ideas lately, so…."

"Let me get this straight. You want to put our secret, and us, at risk, just because you want to cheat at writing?" Leo asked incredulously. Lauren smirked.

"It's not cheating if it really happened. And I swear, I'll put it up on a fan site and everything. No one will know, or even begin to believe that you're real. Even if they did, then who would believe them?" she pointed out. Leo looked a little uncertain, then finally shook his head.

"I cannot believe what I'm agreeing to…" he sighed. Lauren smiled and leaped forward, hugging the mutant turtle.

"Thanks, Leo!" she squealed, letting go just as suddenly. "I swear I won't let ya down!" She stared at him for a second, realizing that he was actually just a total stranger while she was a girl he just happened to meet, and she'd freaking hugged him. But to her surprise, he smiled and bowed to her with one fist pressed against his palm. She smiled and bowed back.

"I mean, arigatogoziamasu, Leonardo-san." she said, the words flowing off of her tongue. Karate class had its many advantages.

That night, in her hotel room, she typed away at the computer as her father slept. Poe was fast asleep upon his perch inside the bars of his cage, and Lauren could almost hear him muttering in his sleep, but she ignored it to continue her work.

This story was going to be one of the best she'd ever written. Love, hate, treachery and trust. And most importantly? Four teenage mutant ninja turtles and their mostly human friends. She smiled in the dim light of her screen.

This was gonna be fun.

* * *

_PSP: And so the story of our little heroine begins... She may be staying for a vacation, true, but I'm afraid her little trip is being lengthened... *evil chuckle*_

_Lauren: What the- What are you going to do to me?!_

_PSP: Oh, I'm not doing anything to you... Your family, however, that's another matter. *full out evil laughter*_

_Lauren: ...Crap._

_PSP: Ah, well, let's go ahead and wrap this up. __**I own no one except the Henson's, Eddy, and Lenore. Everyone else belongs to Nickelodeon Studios. **_

_Lauren: Let your imagination free-_

_PSP: -and remember-_

_Both: -summer belongs to you!_


	3. A Falling and Flying Friendship

_PSP: Alright, third chapter! I decided Lauren needed to learn to fly before anything else too serious happened, so I came up with this little chapter instead._

_Lauren: Oh, thank goodness..._

_PSP: Yeah, don't get cocky, kid. I said something bad would happen to your family, I meant it. That;s coming up soon._

_Lauren: Aw, man..._

_PSP: Well, while we're waiting, enjoy some PoexLauren sibling fluff! He may be her pet bird, but they act like children at times..._

_Lauren: Hey! ...Well, yeah, okay, we do._

_PSP: And hey, until I get the rights from Nickelodeon and Viacom, **I own no one except Poe and Lauren.**_

_With that out of the way, let's start this party! GO!_

* * *

"Poe, this is a bad idea!"

"Stop being such a scaredy-crow! I'm just asking you to jump across an alleyway, what's so hard about that?"

"The fact that you're askin' me to jump across a frinkin' alleyway!" Lauren retorted to her pet raven, using a Cavakian swear word she'd heard muttered among her raven friends. Frink and frinking was an especially bad one.

"Don't use that kind of language with me, young lady!"

"Lady? Racdrops! I'm not even a lady anymore!" It was true. Ever since her mutation, Lauren refused to think of herself as the average human girl anymore. She refused to even think of herself in the human class. Knowing this, Poe thought these little bird classes would help, but they only opened up a new set of challenges for the pair. It was frustrating being the teacher at times, but Poe knew that the girl had to learn about the other half of her genes somehow, and these activities were a good way to prevent Lauren getting bored.

"Why do I even have to do this stupid exercise anyways?" Lauren complained, interrupting the bird's thoughts.

"Because you need to learn how to fly! Those wings on your back aren't just for lookin' pretty, you know!" he snapped, extending a wing to gesture to the mutant raven's back. "It's called branching, and we've used the technique to teach fledglings to fly for generations. Usually, we use branches, as the name implies, but since I thought people would look at you funny if you jumped from tree to tree in Central Park, we're using the rooftops instead."

"But what if I fall, you feather-brain?"

"You won't. Just jump as far as you can, and you'll be fine."

"But Poe-"

"Lauren!" he interrupted, tired of her complaining. "Do you want to fly or not?! Answer me that simple question!" The young teenage girl looked taken aback and wilfed from shame.

"Yes…" she mumbled.

"So are you going to jump across that tiny distance to learn the basics?" She opened her mouth and hardened her look as if she were about to defy him again, but at his withering scowl, she shrunk back again.

"Fine…" she grumbled, storming to the other side of the roof. Poe sighed, enjoying the fact that he'd won. His owner could be stubborn sometimes, and you had to put a foot down to show her that this was a partnership, not a dictatorship. He had some control over this relationship too.

Lauren closed her eyes, crouching into a runner's position and taking a deep breath. Here went everything. She took off across the roof, leaping across the gap with her pitch black wings wide out. For a second, just a split second, the wind caught her wings, and she was truly flying. The air whistled through her feathers, and it felt… amazing. Like nothing she'd felt before. She finally felt free.

Unfortunately, she was so caught up in that feeling that she wasn't braced for the landing. She tumbled head over heels on the concrete, earning a few nasty scrapes and bruises. She finally stopped, collapsing on her back. Poe, shocked, flew over.

"Lauren! Lauren, are you alright?!" he asked frantically. He was answered with a bright smile.

"That was epic!" she cheered. "I wanna do it again!" Poe laughed, from relief or humor he didn't know. Most likely both.

"You will. I want you to keep doing it until you get the landing, the takeoff, and the transition well enough." Lauren nodded eagerly. They continued to practice that all evening until she was quite tired of this.

"Poe, when can we stop? I'm getting kind of bored. And sore." she added, rubbing her knees, which she had accidentally landed on many times.

"No, you need to keep practicing. Think of when you'll be able to fly." he ordered her. She only groaned in reply, collapsing on the ground. He rolled his eyes and leaped from his perch on the parapet.

"Fine, if you're going to be a drama queen about it, we can continue tomorrow. But I expect a lot from you to make up for today." he sighed, flying down to the open window to Lauren's room below. She sighed in relief, rubbing her aching knees. This would take more effort than she thought.

* * *

"You need powerful, strong strokes to take off. Considering your weight, you'll have to work extra hard. Fortunately, your wings seem averagely proportionate."

"Say what?"

"Your wings are the right size."

"Stop using words bigger than what I'm used to. You make me feel dumb."

"You're used to squawking and cawing. Deal with it, birdbrain." Lauren muttered something unintelligible under her breath as she flapped her wings up and down, and Poe looked at her suspiciously. "What did you just say, Missy?"

"Nothing!" she stammered, shocked that he'd heard her as she lifted a foot or so off of the ground in one stroke. "Nothing at all!"

"Now, keep flapping like that… Yes, up quick, down hard, very good! You want to carve the air around you with your wings, use it to sculpt your flight!" Lauren, not really knowing what this meant, strained to keep herself in the air, flapping more quickly, but went down hard. She sat up and shook her head to clear it. Poe was sitting on her chest, shaking his head in disappointment.

"You went too fast. If you go too fast, your wings won't catch any air. Again." She grumbled and leaped into the air again, growing more frustrated by the second. If she could just grab a little more air, she'd be flying, but she couldn't go too fast, she had to slow down a bit-!

She ended up moving a bit too slow and plummeting down, quickly catching herself by a bit of flapping quickly, but went too quickly again and fell to the ground.

"Too slow, then too fast. Try again."

Once more she tried, trying to mediate between fast and slow to get the right amount of lift, but fell to the ground once more. She swore under her breath, holding her leg.

"Are you alright?" Poe wondered, peering at her leg. She nodded, but did so through gritted teeth. "Good. Now try again." He seemed to have no concern for her hurt leg, and this really peeved Lauren.

"Poe, this is stupid! Why are you even teaching me to fly?" she groaned, getting up.

"Because you're a bird! You're supposed to spread those wings, supposed to live in the sky!"

"Birds live in trees, crevices, and holes in the ground!"

"Whatever! My point is, you were given wings for a reason!"

"Yes! I mutated with your genes, I get that! But I still want to be human, not a sprinking raven!" It slipped out before she could stop, then she covered her mouth in horror. She had just used the worst swear word of all, to curse the very kind she'd been mutated with, no less. She looked worriedly at a shocked Poe. "P-Poe… I didn't mean, it, I just-!"

"No." he finally sighed. "You're right. You're human, not my kind. I just thought…" he trailed off, then looked back up at her. "Just… Nevermind. It's clear you don't want to be like us… I mean, me. Go ahead and hide your feathers for all I care."

"Poe…" Unfortunately, he'd already flown inside. She sighed and fell into a sitting position. Drawing her knees up to her chest, she buried her face into her crossed arms and stayed like that for a while, just thinking. It was already dark outside by the time she heard footsteps, and she quickly flipped the hood of her jacket up and over her head.

"Leave me alone." she grumbled, already in a sour mood from her flight training and fight with Poe. The last thing she needed now was some person trying to 'help' her. She could pull through this just fine by herself, please and thank you.

"Lauren? Are you alright?" a familiar voice asked softly.

"I said leave me alone, Mikey." she grumbled, burying her face deeper into her arms.

"Why? Something bothering you?" Raph muttered, trying not to act interested. She figured he didn't need to try too hard.

"No, you can totally tell by the way I'm groveling and isolating myself from all contact, human or other, that everything's just peachy." she growled. "Now go away. I work stuff like this out much better when people don't come within a 10-foot radius of me."

"You sure?" Her head lifted slightly at Donnie's voice, glancing up. He towered above her, yet she could still see the concern in his warm brown eyes. She sighed, all walls she'd set up dissolving for a second. Needless to say, her body quickly built them up again on instinct.

"Positive." she hissed, covering her face again.

"Alright. What happened?" Leo asked. She grunted, which he loosely translated into 'Something stupid.'

"You do stupid stuff pretty often. Care to be a little more specific?" Raph asked. She snapped her head up, giving him the death glare.

"Not the time, hotshot." she seethed. "And Poe and I got in an argument."

"Over what?" Mikey wondered.

"Flight practice."

"I thought you wanted to fly." Donnie pointed out. Lauren sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, but I didn't think it would be this hard! He didn't even care when I hurt my leg, he just told me to get up and do it again! It really hurt… both my leg, and the gesture!"

"Whoever said that flying would be easy?" Leo asked her simply. She narrowed her eyes at him, sighing.

"Oh, great. One of these speeches." she snapped sarcastically. "Listen, I don't care who said it or if they even did, flying is a lot harder than you guys think! It's non-stop work, and although I really appreciate that Poe is doing this for me, I just don't think I was ever really _cut out_ to be a raven."

"Actually, I remember studying ravens when I was little." Donnie began, and Lauren stood up to face them all.

"Oh? Is that so?" she said in mock-interest, head slightly tilted and hands on her waist. "And _how_ exactly does this relate to my problem?"

"Just let me finish!" he protested. "I recall coming across some of the traits that ravens have, and you seem match up with a few of them. A lot of them, honestly. A love of dark colors, preference to avoid human contact, somewhat intelligent-!" he continued, counting off of his fingers.

"'Somewhat?'" she echoed, scowling at him. He only glanced up at her in amusement.

"-and the tendency to eat rather odd things."

"Is this about that chicken teriyaki I ate at Murakami's?! I told you guys that wasn't cannibalism!" she snapped. Leo smirked.

"No, I think it's about that pizza you and Mikey continued to eat after he said it was thrown away."

"Oh, God, it was perfectly safe! The garbage never got past the box!" she protested. Mikey extended his arms to her in gratitude.

"Thank you! Yeesh, you live in the sewers your whole life and then you're suddenly neat-freaks!" he cried.

"That's besides the point." Leo sighed. "I think what Donnie is getting at is that you really are a raven now, whether you like it or not."

"I don't." she growled.

"Maybe what Poe was trying to do was get you more familiar with your new form. Who knows, there might be some new things you'll like?" Donnie suggested. Raph shrugged.

"Yeah, maybe you could use those wings to win in a fight? Might be the only thing to keep your butt from getting kicked." he teased. Lauren now had her usual sarcastic smile plastered on her face, holding her arms up in a fighting stance.

"You wanna go, pretty boy?" she snapped. He glared at her.

"Is that a challenge?"

"Maaaybe!" she said, drawing out the word.

"As if I could get beaten by a little feathered freak!"

"Look who's talkin', Red! Roses are red, violets are blue! God made me pretty, what happened to you?" she sang, laughing as he chased her around. She abruptly stopped, ducking to the ground just as he was about to catch her. Fortunately, he jumped just before her body would've tripped him, and he whipped around to face her as she got up. Going pale at his smug face, she knew she was in trouble.

"Huh." she squeaked as he advanced. "That usually works… AAAAGH!" she screamed, running further across the roof. She was fast, but tired out quickly. There wasn't much time before Raph caught her.

* * *

Poe sighed, sitting on his perch and trying to focus his mind. He'd just wanted to teach her, but she had was being too dramatic, as always. Why couldn't his owner, his best friend, ever just listen to him? He tried, he really did, but it just didn't seem to get through to her.

He knew how stubborn she was. If she really wanted to do something, she wouldn't let anything stop her- whether it be pain, physics, or at the very least another person. Whenever he'd seen that she'd hurt her leg, he thought that would be no problem, but of course she exploded. Cursed his own kind, and what he thought he'd finally convinced her was her kind, too. That really hurt.

But, he couldn't blame her, of course. Lauren was, after all, a moody teenager. She was always happy one moment, angry the next. It wasn't too hard to faze her, even if she did have a high tolerance for people.

A recognizable scream interrupted his thoughts, a scream he knew all too well.

"LAUREN!" he squawked, flying out of the window. He was met with a black and blue blur racing past him, fifteen floors down to cold, hard pavement.

* * *

The first thing that Lauren felt after she plummeted off the edge of the building was dizziness. After all, she was familiar with having something solid beneath her for long periods of time, not floating around like this.

Then was confusion as she heard a high-pitched sound, whistling through the air as she dropped.

After that came fear as she realized it was her own scream.

She'd just fallen off the edge of a twenty-story hotel building, and landing sure wasn't going to tickle.

Soon, there was a black smudge racing beside her, one that she immediately rendered as Poe.

"Poe!" she cried. "I'm so sorry! For yelling at you!"

"It's alright!" he called back. "You need to fly if you want to live! Carve the air with your wings! The wind is your canvas, use it!"

"That doesn't even make any sense!" she cried back.

"Just open your wings slowly so they don't get ripped off and carve the wind!" he cried. Finding no other choice as the ground approached her faster, Lauren nodded, slowly opening her wings but yelping as the wind yanked them out anyhow. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, Poe's words echoed in her mind.

_ Carve the wind… Carve the wind…!_

All of a sudden, the air around her felt softer, thicker. Sort of like clay, or dough. She moved her wings, and she found the air moved to her command. The dough was pushing hard against her wings in the front, but was easily moved if she kept pushing it back. She continued to do that, and she finally opened her eyes.

She was flying up, extremely fast. Yelping with fright from what she was doing, her wings stopped and she dropped down. Quickly imagining the dough around her, she pushed it back, and she was flying again. It was tiring, but Poe had kept cheering her on from beside her, and soon she had reached the roof. Finally, hovering above the rooftop and using up the last of her energy, she collapsed into a panting heap. The four turtles rushed over, Donnie and Mikey hoisting her up around their shoulders.

"Lauren?! Are you alright?" Leo cried, gently slapping the girl's face. Finally, her eyes opened, and she glared at Raph.

"RAPH! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" she snarled, jumping out of Donnie and Mikey's grip and tackling him. Nevertheless, she ended up pinned down rather easily. Poe cawed something in Cavakian that only Lauren understood, and she glared up at the red-banded turtle.

"He was chasing me when I fell off the roof!" she cried. _"That's_ why I tackled him!" All of a sudden, Poe was attacking Raph, who quickly let Lauren go. She took her time as Raphael was maimed by her pet and chased across the roof, getting up and brushing herself off. While his brothers watched in a sort of frozen awe, Lauren spent her time watching as the turtle tried desperately to escape him.

Finally, Lauren called him off. "Alright, Poe, that's enough. I think he's learned his lesson." When Poe didn't relinquish, Lauren commanded him more firmly. "Poe. I'm serious. I'm fine, you can let him go." When her raven friend still didn't back off, she rushed over and snatched him in the air, holding his wings back as he struggled against her grip. "Poe! Stop it! _Now!_ You're gonna _hurt_ him! Er, more than he needs to be, anyways."

"Keep that thing away from me!" Raph cried, rubbing his head. It wasn't too bad, nothing he couldn't handle, but the bird had taken him by surprise, he'd say later. It wasn't like he was afraid of it or anything.

"Sorry! He's just a little mad about the roof thing…" she laughed nervously, when Poe cawed viciously. She glared down at him. "Oh, I know you didn't just say that, mister! And you say I have a dirty mouth…"

"Are you going to be alright?" Donnie asked her. She smiled brightly.

"Fine, just a little shaken." she admitted. "It balances out, you know, with the flying and…" She suddenly trailed off, eyes going wide as she realized what she said. "I was flying… I was _flying!"_ she cried, throwing her hands in the air and letting go of Poe. Fortunately, he caught himself and flew up to her shoulder, his usual perch. "Did you guys see that?! I was falling so _fast,_ and then I let out my wings and _swoosh!_ Oh, man, it was so _amazing,_ and-" She stopped to take a deep breath, and sighed. "I love my life." The Turtles found her behavior amusing, to say the least.

Leo raised an eye ridge and smiled. "Yeah, the way you plummeted to near death was pretty funny." Lauren smiled.

"I try my best." she said confidently, placing her fists on her hips in a heroic pose. Raph rolled his eyes.

"What? To kill yourself? You do a pretty great job."

"Says the guy who pushed me off the roof in the first place!" she said jokingly, but all humor stopped there. Raph's face fell, and he looked slightly apologetic for once.

"Yeah, well… sorry about that." he muttered, shrugging. "I… didn't mean to do it."

"Honestly? No prob." Lauren chuckled, a mischievous smile creeping on her face. "After all, it's all thanks to you that I can do… _this!"_ She laughed and jumped off of the roof, leaving Poe behind to gawk, and all four brothers gasped, hurrying to the edge. After a split second she flew straight up in the air, hovering above them while panting from the effort. She laughed as they all sighed in relief.

"What? You didn't think I was stupid enough to fall _again,_ did you?" she teased, landing next to them. Poe instantly flew over and promptly smacked the back of her head with one wing. She winced, smiling nervously as he scowled at her. "Too soon?" she asked, shrugging.

Poe sighed, rolling his eyes. She was a handful. But she was his handful, nonetheless, and he wasn't about to let her fall again anytime soon.

Not under his watch.

* * *

_PSP: Aw, you're so sweet, Poe! I love how you... tried to, um, murder Raph..._

_Poe: He pushed Lauren off a roof, it was the least I could do._

_Lauren: You could've really hurt him, you little demon-child!_

_PSP: What?! Demon?! You knew?_

_Lauren: What? No! What are you talking about, I just call him that when he's been a bad birdie!_

_PSP: Dang it... Stupid spoilers... Yes, demons will kinda be involved... Uh... NINJA VANISH! *disappears in purple smoke*_

_Lauren: Dang it! How did she get Donnie's smoke bombs?! *shrugs* Oh well. C'mon, Poe, let's sign off for her. Let you imagination free-_

_Poe: -and remember-_

_PSP: *pops up in purple smoke* -SUMMER BELONGS TO YOU!_

_Lauren: PSYCHO!_

_PSP: SHOOT! GOTTA GO! *leaves in purple smoke*_


	4. When Crisis Strikes

_PSP:__ Finally, it's time! Time for disaster! MWAHAHAHAHA!_

_Lauren: YOU LITTLE-! WHAT DID YOU DO?!_

_PSP: *chuckles darkly* Nothing too harsh. Just a kidnapping or two. _

_Lauren: Be lucky Poe isn't here to shred your face off. _

_PSP: How... convenient. ANYWAYS, time for the disclaimer!_

**_I own no one except Lauren, Poe, and Lauren's father. Everyone else belongs to Nickelodeon, especially the Turtles and April. _**

_With that said, let's begin!_

* * *

Lauren ran a comb through her hair and sighed, gently touching the feather in her hair. She had grown to have inky black strips in her dark brown hair ever since her mutation into a raven girl. Her father had wondered just what was going on with her, and she'd made up pretty good stories whenever he asked. But she knew this couldn't stay secret for long.

Today was their last day in New York before leaving for home. She'd disliked having to go in her current state, but staying to fix it wasn't an option. She had business to attend to down in Louisiana. They'd gone to see the sights of the city, such as the Empire State Building and Central Park, but it didn't seem the same. Her father had been depressed the entire time, due to the disappearance of his close friend, Mr. Kirby O'Neil. His daughter April, Lauren, and April's special mutant friends, the Turtles, only knew the truth of his vanishing act: the Kraang.

Lauren began to ponder just what would happen to the Turtles after she left. She didn't know much about them, other than the fact that they were teenage mutant ninja turtles. She'd grown close to April over the past week or so, and thought of her as a good family friend. Perhaps April could keep her up to date on the missions, her ninjitsu training, and most of all, Donnie…

_The Turtles!_ she quickly corrected. _The Turtles._ She'd seen the guys a few times after their first encounter, Lauren's mutation, and clearly saw that the purple masked brother, Donatello, had a crush on April. She admitted that it was cute, funny at times, even, but there was something about it that grated her nerves. And now, whenever she thought of the Turtles, she thought of him. It was… odd. She just couldn't seem to get the nerdy, geeky terrapin out of her mind. Not to mention she always caught herself giving him these strange little stares….

A tapping at the window interrupted her thoughts. She stared at Mikey, who smiled and waved now that he had her attention. She grinned and ran to the window, opening it.

"Hey, Mikey!" she said happily. Noticing the others were there too, she quickly added, "Hey, guys. Cap." She nodded at Leo in acknowledgement. Captain had become her nickname for the leader of the odd team. She also smiled at Donnie, trying to hold back the odd sensation that came when he smiled at her. _Stupid unidentifiable feelings._

"So, what brings ya here tonight?" she asked, leaning on the window frame. Leo stepped forward.

"We've come to wish you good luck back home." he said. The others nodded in agreement.

"Thank you." she said gratefully. "That's real sweet of ya." She hesitated for a moment, not wanting to spoil the happy mood of the situation. Finally she said, "So, you're sure you can find a reverse for, you know…" She gestured to her mutated body.

"We'll… try our best." Donnie slowly said, as if trying to find the right words. She sighed.

"I'm just hoping everyone'll believe my stupid cover-up stories. You guys have been real fun to hang out with while I was here, by the way. Hope you'll find April's dad before anything bad happens." Mikey ran up and hugged her out of nowhere, surprising her.

"We're gonna miss you!" he said, squeezing her.

"We are?" Raph asked, and Donnie elbowed him. Lauren laughed at the brotherly love. These guys were awesome. They might've been mutants on the outside, but Lauren had begun to think of them as humans themselves.

"I'll miss you too, Mikey." she laughed, hugging the young turtle. "Hopefully, there won't be any unexpected delays in my flight. Like, oh, I dunno, a giant mutant cat-squid-jellyfish-bug thing or evil ninjas that appear out of nowhere." Leo winced as she let Mikey go.

"You heard about Justin?"

"Only snippets." she said, smiling in good humor. "By the way, Karai really sounds like your type."

"I'm over her!" he protested. Lauren rolled her eyes.

"Sure you are, Cap. I totally believe you." Raph snickered at this, and Leo glared at him.

"Well, thanks for everything." she said, beginning to head back inside. "I've gotta go. Gotta get up early for the flight. G'night, guys."

"Good night." Donnie said as all of his brothers jumped and ran off. He paused before leaving, as if he expected her to do something. Lauren smirked a bit and lifted her hand in a little wave, watching as he smiled, waved back, and leaped off as she closed the window. All good things must come to an end, she supposed. This was just another of them.

* * *

"You ready?" Lauren asked the next morning as her father finished his packing. They were getting to the airport early on in order that they wouldn't miss their flight. Grunting as he lifted the suitcase, he nodded.

"Just gotta load this up in the car. But before we head to the airport, I've gotta go pick up some stuff from that hardware store we went to yesterday. They've got some stuff I'm not able to find back home." Lauren nodded in understanding. Her father's talent with machines was extraordinary. She came from a smart family with high standards, and she knew he expected a lot from her. Everyone did. But to just be around her father and go help him with whatever the heck he was working on? She loved to know she'd helped him with whatever he was building this time.

As they drove to the store, Lauren gazed out of the window to see a familiar van. She couldn't remember where she'd seen it before. Perhaps a dream? She knew it had happened after dark. Where had she seen this van before?

Pulling up at the store, she watched warily as the van copied them, pulling up on the side of the road and walking in after them. She didn't dare look at the drivers. They couldn't know she was spying on them. As she sifted through the rack of parts and tools, she spied her father talking to a familiar face.

_Racdrops!_ she thought, cursing in Cavakian. _Kraang!_ Sure enough, the van was the very Kraang van that had tried to kidnap April the other day. _The same ones who had kidnapped April's father… So where does that leave mine?!_ The thought shot like lightning through her head, and Lauren raced over to the pair.

"You see, if you attach a conductor to it, it short-circuits the whole thing and-." Her dad was actually giving the Kraangdroid tips! Instructing him! She separated the two, pushing her dad away.

"Uh, hey, Daddy, I think I saw some of those thingies you needed, over here, but I'm not sure! Could you check it for me? Thanks!" she said quickly, steering her father towards the rack she was previously at. As she peered through the racks, her father tapped her shoulder.

"Lauren, these are flathead screwdrivers and you know it." he said. "What is going on? Why did you interrupt my conversation?" Lauren's mind was having a Field Day, trying to come up with a believable explanation. How was she to explain that her father had been casually conversing with an evil alien?

"Ah… well… I didn't get a good vibe from him." she stammered. "He didn't seem… right. I mean, look at him! He's a businessman! Since when do businessmen become interested in mechanics?"

"He could be wanting to know for a patent he's planning on making or something like that!" he argued. "Look, he's lost interest now. Listen, let's just get the stuff we need and get to the airport, okay?" He pushed past her, leaving Lauren desperately looking after him.

To her surprise, the Kraangdroid didn't bother them after that. He simply exited the store and drove off in his van. Lauren felt better now, knowing she could relax. The Kraang weren't bothering her family anytime soon, especially if she had a say in it. They bought their various machinery parts and continued the drive to the airport in their rental car.

Lauren had been humming along to a song on the radio when a loud **BANG** ripped through the air. She gasped and gripped the door handle tightly.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Sounded like one of the tires popped." her father answered, trying to pull over on the side of the road. "Let's just check this real-."

**BANG.**

Lauren squeaked, praying that the road was simply littered with glass. Two bright beams answered her.

** BANG. BANG.**

"Someone's shot our tires!" she cried to her father. He nodded.

"I-I know, boo-boo. Just- Just stay calm, okay? I'll handle this." he said trying to calm his daughter down. "I'm going to go see what the trouble is, alright?"

"No!" she cried as he exited the driver's seat. "Don't go! It's them, don't you get it?! The Kraang!" But it was too late. Her father had left. Finding no other choice, Lauren took a deep breath and unbuckled, exiting the car to go after her dad. Time to get down to business.

As she had presumed, it was the same Kraangdroid- or, at least, she thought it was. All of them looked the same. Her father had walked right up to one, too busy yelling at it to notice her.

"…ell man, why'd ya shoot our tires?!" he cried, cursing and shouting. The droid just stared at him for a second, then fired the laser gun at her father's feet, startling him. "What the-?!"

"The ones known as the Kraang believe that the one the Kraang recognize as the human known as Patrick Henson is a suitable weapons creator for the ones known as the Kraang." the droid said, more robots unloading from the vehicle and lining up with laser guns at the ready. They advanced on him, grabbing him by the arms and shoving him into the van. He struggled to escape, but was only knocked out and thrown in the back.

Seeing this, all fear vanished from Lauren's body. Unfurling her wings and taking off her gloves to reveal her sharp talons, she was ready to do this. "You just messed with the wrong guy…" she growled, taking a fighting stance. The robots paid no heed of her, already packing up. She knew she had to do something fast.

"Yo, Kraang!" she snarled, grabbing their attention. "The one you call your father is a mother dog!" All robots froze and turned their heads to her.

"The one called the human girl is incorrect." one said. "While you Earthlings have what you refer to as 'fathers', we Kraang-."

"Just come get me, ya birdbrains!" she said, sticking her tongue out. The aliens charged at her, and she resumed her fighting stance as she just stood there. Wait for it… Wait for it…

_NOW!_

She leaped up with a strong sweep of her wings and kicked the nearest droid in the stomach, where she'd seen the alien face last time. Sure enough, the businessman disguised robot fell to the ground and a slimy pink alien brain popped out, slithering away. With another, she scratched its face with her talons and threw him into the air, punching him across the street as he came down. Poe broke from his cage in the car and flew out the open door, joining in to save his master.

Together, they fought fiercely, but not fierce enough. Soon, they found that the aliens were escaping from right under their noses. While they fought, the droids quickly began to load into the van, angering Lauren and Poe even further.

"Hey! Where d'you piles of crap think you're goin'?!" she snapped, beginning to run after them. "Come back here with my father, you frinking cowards! Hey, stop!" Her fear slowly began to return as the van took off and Lauren jumped into the air to fly after them, but quickly realized her black wings could be seen in the grayish blue sky. She'd stick out like a sore thumb.

Running as fast as she could after them, she was no match for the van's speed. She watched the van drive away hopelessly, taking her father with it. It was over. He was gone.

She fell to her knees on the sidewalk and slowly began to cry as she thought of what the aliens could do to her father. She remembered the description April had given her last time she'd seen her father in the alien stronghold. Thin, as if he hadn't been fed well. Sunken and bagged eyes, like he'd been kept up all night to work on the mutagen. Not only were his eyes sunken and tired, but they lacked their normal sparkle that April had constantly seen in them. Lauren and Poe knew that sparkle. She saw it all the time in her dad's eyes, especially when he was messing with his machines or went hunting with her brother and her. Without it, he was just… not him.

_Wait… APRIL! And the Turtles!_ The thought ripped through her head, and she wiped the tears from her eyes. Surely they'd know what to do! They'd been fighting the Kraang for months now. They could tell her where to go to save her father. She quickly leaped up and began to run the route to April's aunt's house. Hopefully, she'd still be there…

_Ah, yes! Here it is!_ She rushed up to the door and knocked, greeting at April's aunt with hopeful eyes when she opened the door.

"Lauren? Oh, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be on the plane? Where is your father?"

"It's a long story." she said, trying to bite back more tears at the mention of her father. "Please, is April home? I need to speak with her. Like, right now."

"Well, uh, yes, right upstairs in her room, but-!"

"Thank you, Ms. O'Neil!" she said quickly, pushing past the woman to run up the stairs. This was important. She burst into the small apartment room, but out of breath and speechless. April was staring at her over the book she was reading.

"Lauren? What-?" April began, but then noticed the desperate look in Lauren's eyes. The book dropped to the ground. "No… They…"

"They took him." Lauren choked out, tears already forming in her eyes again. April jumped up from her seat and hugged the raven girl. "Snatched him from me before my very eyes."

"I know. It's hard." April said, tears beginning in her eyes too. "We'll get him back. We'll get them both back."

"How?"

"…Have I ever told you about where the guys live?"

* * *

"Hey, April! Hi- Lauren? Lauren, what happened?" Donnie asked, rushing up to the young crying girl, not even caring that she was supposed to be back in Louisiana and had entered their top-secret home. Lauren faintly smiled. _Donnie is the sweetest guy ever._

"Lauren? April? What's going on?" Leo asked, getting up from his Space Heroes show, a rare act for the turtle.

"The Kraang. They took Lauren's dad." April explained. The Turtles went slightly paler, and Leo immediately turned around.

"I'll get Master Splinter." he said, running into a dojo-like room. Lauren stared as a giant rat in a robe came out, eyes flickering from the Turtles to the rat, distracting her from her troublesome thoughts for a second. _Giant rat. Why am I not surprised?_ _Alright. Ninjas. Master Splinter._ He's_ obviously the rat. Master means he's some sort of superior of the ninjas. Which means... Sensei, teacher. Greet him with lots of respect._

"_Ohayo, _S-Splinter-san." she finally hiccuped, bowing. "I hope you do not mind that I enter your dwelling with so little warning, but I'm afraid a... c-crisis has arrived." Splinter looked mildly shocked that the girl hadn't screamed, but nodded and bowed in return.

"Yes, ah, of course. Leonardo told me that the Kraang are involved?"

"The K-Kraang have stolen my father." she said, trying her best to hold back fresh tears, but failing.

"What? Why'd they need him?" Mikey asked.

"Th-They took 'im, c-'cause he's a good mech-anic an' all… He could make 'em good wea-pons." Lauren choked out, hiccuping through her whole sentence.

"Okay, Lauren, can you tell us exactly what happened?" Leo asked. Lauren nodded, wiping her eyes.

"We were driving to the airport, b-but Dad had to stop 'n get some stuff from t-the hardware store." she stammered, trying hard not to cry again from the memory. "He'd been talking to a K-Kraangdroid in disguise, showin' him some stuff I guess they needed for some new weapons. I guess the Kraang thought he was pretty good, 'cause when we headed to the airport… they shot our tires and tried to kidnap him."

"Okay, what did you do next?"

"I called Kraang's father a female dog 'n drop kicked him in the gut." She blinked innocently at their odd stares. "What?"

"That's it." Raph said, walking up to Lauren and putting his arm on her. "We're totally keeping this one."

"I-I'm a black belt in karate!" she snapped, pushing his arm off of her. "What was I supposed to do when someone kidnapped my father?!"

"Whoa, whoa, wait. You're a black belt in karate?" Leo asked incredulously. "You never told us that!"

"Whatever!" she snapped, a bit annoyed with the leader turtle. "Listen, all I need to know is where the Kraang stronghold is. I save my dad and I'm done here."

"You're not seriously thinking of going in alone, are you?" Donnie asked her. She raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

"Well, I don't see why not. I should be able to handle this on my own, please 'n thank you."

"Maybe it is best if you do not simply charge in without a plan." Splinter advised.

"I _do _have a plan, I'll just make it up whenever I get a good layout of the building." she said.

"I don't think so." April interjected. "You leave this to us."

"What?! But-!" Lauren began, but Leo stopped her.

"Has your flight home left yet?"

"Well, no, but-!"

"Then you go catch it. Whenever we rescue your father we'll send him back." Lauren stared at him for a second, as if she was waiting for him to give a signal that he was joking.

"You're kidding, right?" she asked slowly. "You aren't actually telling me to leave my father behind in this mess, are you?!" She threw her hands in the air for emphasis. Poe let out a little groan, knowing where this was going. "I'm stayin', Cap_,_ whether you like it or not! I'm not helpless, Leonardo!" she snapped, meaning business when she used his real name. "I'm stayin' to fight for my father!"

"I'm not about to let you put yourself in danger like that, leave it to the professionals."

"The professionals?" she echoed. Poe slightly covered his face with his wing. And here it came. "He thinks I can't fight! Oh, that's funny! Real funny. But you know what? You act all big and tough and cool, like you're the leader of everyone, but you're not. You aren't the boss of me, and you can't tell me to just abandon my family when they need me the most!" she snarled. "This isn't your decision, it's mine, and you have no right to tell me that I have to choose what you want. I'm done here. I'm done with all of this, I don't need this!" She stormed out of the lair, Poe trying hard to calm her down.

"Now, er, Lauren, let's not do anything we'll regret later-!" he began, but she only brushed him off her shoulder.

"Shut up, Poe!" she snapped, tears forming in her eyes again. "Just… leave me alone!"

"Lauren- Lauren, come on!" he cried, watching as his teenage owner ran away. He sighed. "Kids. It's always kids."

"Man, you really ticked her off." Mikey commented, looking at Leo.

"She just has to learn her place." he sighed, shaking his head. "She may think she knows what she's facing, but she's not ready for this."

"I better go catch up with her. See you guys later." April said as she ran out through the subway gates, trying to catch up to her friend.

* * *

April found Lauren on top of her aunt's building, knees brought up to her face and crying. Her wings were wrapped around her like a blanket, only exposing the back of her head and part of her shoulders. April sat beside the girl, but Lauren didn't seem to notice her. Finally, she tapped Lauren's shoulder to make the girl look up to her.

"What do you want?" she asked, wiping her eyes.

"Gee, nice to see you too." April said sarcastically. "Are you going to be alright?"

"As soon as I kick the creeps who took my dad all the way to Timbuktu." she grumbled. "Then I'll be fine. But apparently it's _not my fight_." she said in a mocking tone, and scoffed. "Jerk."

"Hey, Leo might be a little bossy from time to time, but he's not a jerk." April told her. "A jerk wouldn't care about your father. Leo does, and he wants you to be safe."

"I'm not going home without my dad." she said quietly. April realized that this might've not been about dignity, something that Lauren had plenty of and protected with her attitude, but instead fear.

"You're scared, aren't you?" April asked. Lauren looked at the elder teen furiously.

"No! I-I'm not scared!"

"You're scared of…what everyone will think of you? The bird girl without a father?"

"Stop it!" she snapped, burying her head into her arms as if it would block the words out.

"You're scared that if you go home… you'll never see your father again." she said, much more quietly. This seemed to be it, as Lauren had begun to cry again.

"It will never be the same." she sobbed silently. "If I go home… it's all over. It won't be the same."

"But Leo and the guys will rescue him." April assured. Lauren looked up at her.

"And what if they don't? What if he dies in there? It will be all my fault." She began to shake her head. "I never should've stopped following the van. I should've kept following him… It's all my fault…"

"No, no, it's not your fault." April reassured, rubbing the young girl on the shoulder. "It was never your fault."

"I just want to make sure he's going to be safe." she sighed. "Not that I don't trust the Turtles, but… I want to rescue him myself. Prove that I'm worth something around here."

"Don't we all." April sighed. "Listen, Leo just wants what's best for you… But, if you're really serious about saving your dad… I'll talk to him. Okay?" Lauren wiped her eyes clear.

"R-Really? You'd do that?"

"Sure, why not. But just remember, this was all your idea. You can't back out once you're in, and this is _extremely _dangerous. Like, _death if your foot slips an inch _serious."

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" she saluted, a smile now back on her face. Still grateful to April, she flung her arms around her and squeezed. "Thank you, April. I swear that we'll get our dads back."

April froze for a second, unsure of what to do. Finally, she smiled and hugged the younger girl back. "I know." she replied. "We will. Now, let's see if I can find you a place to stay for your mission…"

* * *

_Lauren: YOU MADE MY FATHER PRISONER OF THE KRAANG?! Now I'll never see him again, you little-!_

_PSP: Hey, calm down! A family for a family, right?_

_Lauren: What?_

_PSP: I gave you April and the Turtles, Master Splinter too. Fortunately, you weren't having bad enough a breakdown to make a bad impression on Splinter, so you've got him too. _

_Lauren: I... guess you're right... But what about Dad? Are we able to save him?_

_PSP: That's a good question. That I do not know._

_Lauren: What?!_

_PSP: Uh, heh, look at that! Time to sign off! Don't forget to review, readers! There's the box thingy right down there, remember to type and send! Set your imagination free, and remember, summer belongs to you! Anything to add, Lauren?_

_Lauren: I'M GOING TO BURN YOU ALIVE. _

_PSP: Uh, right! BYE! *disappears in purple smoke*_

_Lauren: Freaking ninja smoke bombs!_


	5. Cockroach Terminator

_PSP: Alrighty, here's number five, along with my first reviews! Yes! Thanks, guys! I'm sorry it took so long, I was busy visiting relatives for a month. This chapter is long, nearly twice as many words as the previous chapter, just to make up for it!  
_

_Lauren: I'VE FOUND ALLIES. NOTHING CAN STOP ME NOW! *evil laughter*_

_PSP: *nervous sweat drop* Uh, Lauren, let's not be hasty..._

_Lauren: *lifts up and pins against wall* This is gonna be fun!_

_PSP: *tries to block her with arms* Wait! What if you kicked Kraang butt in the chapter? Would that save me?!_

_Lauren: *pauses and drops Psycho* I'm listening..._

_PSP: *crumples to ground* Oh..._

_Lauren: Shoot, I broke her. YO, CAMERA! You're sister's outta it! _

_Cameragirl (CG): Right, got it. *drags PSP away* _

_Lauren: Uh, I guess I have to do the disclaimer now. _

_**PeacesignPsycho owns no one except myself (Lauren), Poe, and my dad (Mr. Henson). Everyone else belongs to Nickelodeon. **_

_Now, we begin! Enjoy the story!  
_

* * *

"Woo hoo!" Lauren whooped, flying through the air at breakneck speeds. Now that she was able to fly without much difficulty, she was having the time of her life, spinning and dipping through the air in the dead of night. Hardly anyone was out during this time, and the night sky camouflaged her perfectly from watchful eyes. Flying was definitely one of her favorite past times now, feeling the wind against her face and the thrilling feeling of dropping and swooping to the hard ground below. Not to mention flying allowed her thoughts to wander and took her mind off of her father.

After his kidnapping, Lauren had been in a bad mood for a good time, and it still hadn't gone away. It was only kept at bay by the wind rushing past her, which she was grateful for. Instead, she decided to replay what had happened since then.

After her shouting match with Leo and the others in the Lair (but mostly Leo!), she'd gone back to reluctantly apologize at April's request. Unfortunately, April wasn't able to do much about the grudge Lauren kept for the blue-clad turtle. The two argued often, mainly by the fault of Lauren because she'd been annoying him or picking a fight.

Lauren didn't care, of course.

After that, they'd finally set up Lauren with April's aunt where she could stay for the time being. They told Ms. O'Neil about the kidnapping, or_ a_ kidnapping, anyways. Instead of being captured by evil aliens to build weaponry, their car had been hijacked by a traveling gang while they'd been traveling to the airport. Lauren was able to escape, but her father was who-knows-where. The police ordered she stay in one place for a spell, in case interrogation matters arose.

It was all too easy, honestly. She was now staying at April's aunt's house, she was allowed to visit the Turtles down in the Lair thanks to her good impression on Splinter. Poe continued her bird lessons, which included learning various animal languages and more things she needed to know, like bird hygiene and flight techniques. She'd even begun to meld her karate with her wings and created a new type of martial arts, something Mikey called 'Fly-Kwon-Do'.

Suddenly, a loud scream interrupted her thoughts. She slowed down, hovering in one spot, which was no easy feat. She struggled against the fast air current, scanning the ground below her for trouble. Judging from the guys' stories, there was an adventure around every corner. There could actually be people in trouble.

The first thing she spotted was a giant graffiti'd van parked in a side street with some kind of robot nearby it. At first, she had to admit, she wasn't surprised. Typical night, honestly. Then she noticed four figures attacking it, ninja weapons gleaming.

"What are those birdbrains up to now?" she muttered under her breath, tucking her wings in and letting herself free-fall. As she neared the ground where her friends were fighting, she noticed that a familiar red-clad brother was missing. She silently prayed that he hadn't done something stupid, or was up to anything of the sort. She was quickly answered when the mutant of her thoughts had appeared in front of the van, shooting... manhole covers?

"_Bombs away!_" she suddenly called out in warning, slowing herself a bit but not entirely stopping. She crashed into the monster they were fighting, which she quickly found out was not the best idea.

The thing had caught her by the hood of her trademark blue jacket, holding her up to face him. Being able to catch more of his features, Lauren quickly realized it was some sort of giant bug-robot. She smiled nervously, lifting her hand up in a wave. "Uh, 'sup?" The insect replied by throwing her into the wall, and Raph began to shoot the metal covers at it again while screaming crazily.

This had no effect on the cyborg bug, however, and the thing just kept advancing on him. Closing his eyes tightly and taking a final shot, the cover hit the cy-bug in the head and knocked him back. Its red glowing eye lost its light, a shutter closing over it, and the faint sounds of a program shutting down could be heard. Donnie and Mikey rushed over and helped Lauren up, checking her over.

"Hey, you alright?" Don wondered, and she blushed, smiling.

"Fine." she confirmed, standing up and out of their grasp. Suddenly, her cheeky smile turned into a scowl as she glared at the robotic insect. "But _somebody_ doesn't know how to treat a lady." she growled, crossing her arms. Catching Leo out of the corner of her eye, she raised an eyebrow as he spoke to her.

"You really shouldn't be crashing into random mutants at that speed, you know." he said simply. Lauren rolled her eyes at his remark.

"Gee, Cap, I'm fine. Thanks for your concern." she snapped sarcastically, brushing herself off. She glanced at the giant robot bug, a look of concern and confusion crossing her face. "Uh, anyone wanna explain what the heck that thing is?"

"Mutated spy-roach." the three chorused, which only made their friend even more confused.

Suddenly, its leg twitched, which sent Raph into another shooting frenzy. He screamed, shooting circular covers into everything but the cyborg. Leo rushed over, trying to calm him down.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Ease up, Raph, I think you got him!" he cried, Raphael stopping to pant with his eyes wide.

"Okay, okay..." he sighed, nodding and closing his eyes. Out of nowhere, he leaned forward and shot another time, nailing the bug where the sun didn't shine. "What do we do with it?"

"Forget the roach! We gotta stop the Kraang before they destroy the Earth." Leo ordered, following the others into the van.

"Leo's right. We gotta go." Raph stated, marching towards the van. Mikey turned around, pointing an accusing finger at his older brother.

"You just wanna get away from that thing!" Lauren laughed, walking up next to the youngest turtle.

"Awh, is Raphie afraid of the bug-a-boo?" she teased, cooing at him in a swooning gesture.

"Is that so wrong?" he snapped, gesturing widely at the gooey, chunky mess of mutant a few yards away. Or where it should've been, anyways. The mutant roach was gone, nothing left in its place. "Oh no, it's gone! C'mon guys, we gotta move!" he cried, scooping up his brothers, and unknown to him, Lauren, and pushed them into the Shellraiser. They took off, tires screeching against the black pavement.

* * *

"I really don't understand how you guys could mutate something that can survive a frinking nuclear apocalypse and high-tech machinery." Lauren muttered with her arms crossed. "You're never gonna stop that thing."

"Donnie's the one who made it fall into the mutagen." Mikey said, glancing to where the raven girl stood behind him.

"It wasn't my fault." Donnie snapped. "Raph's the one who kept annoying me with questions."

"I was confused by the stupid way they speak, you're the one who lost your temper!" Raph shot back from his seat in the front.

"Don't make me stop this van, you four!" Leo snapped from the front seat, in which they all fell silent.

"There's the van!" Donnie suddenly said, and the Shellraiser slowed. Raph and Lauren peered over his shoulders to stare at the screen. "They must've picked up the lens." Raph looked up to Leo in the front, pointing in the same direction.

"Ram that sucker!" he said, in which Leo promptly did so. The Kraang van tumbled top over wheels, stopping a few yards away.

"Bullseye!" Lauren chuckled, following the others eagerly as the exited the subway car and readying her weapon. It seemed ridiculous to the boys that the girl would use a frying pan in battle at first, but after they'd seen her successfully whack a Purple Dragon out with a single hit the week before, they decided it was best not to argue with her.

"Halt Kraang!" Leo commanded in his 'leader' voice that they knew all too well._ Speaking of whacking..._ Lauren thought to herself, resisting the temptation to whack either him or herself after hearing it. _Sometimes it physically hurts to listen to him._

"The halting of Kraang is not a thing that the ones who are turtles shall be doing to Kraang." the human-disguised-robot said in a monotonous voice.

"Wrong!" Leo declared. "The halting of Kraang is exactly the thing that the ones who are- oh, _just halt!_" he finished in exasperation.

"What should we save first? The world, or the English language?" Donnie remarked, making Lauren snicker. Leo shot her a glare before Raph dragged a large plastic case next to them.

"I got the lens!" he said. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be this easy, it seemed.

It never really was.

The cy-bug, as Lauren decided to call it, landed on the roof of the wrecked Kraang van, right on top of a Kraangdroid in disguise. She heard a loud yelp of terror as Raph leaped behind her, and she rolled her eyes. The cy-bug cracked its neck, as if preparing to squish them like a bug, then raised its arm and fired.

"You're kidding!" Lauren growled. "Who the frink gave it a laser gun?!" She didn't notice Raph running away in horror behind her back.

The Kraangdroids began to shoot at it, but to no avail. Its already tough exoskeleton merged with the metal on its back, and now its armor was nearly indestructible. All it had to do was fire back at the aliens, and the Kraang were down for the count. It jumped down from the van, turning to the mutants left remaining.

"Mikey, Donnie, Lauren, you take the roach!" Leo quickly ordered, katanas out and ready. "Raph, you're coming with me." He turned to see an empty spot where his brother once was after the three others charged forward. "Raph? Raph!" He wasn't able to see Raph peeking out from behind the Shellraiser, then ducking back down once he caught sight of the massive roach.

Meanwhile, with the cy-bug, the three martial artists tightened their grips around their weapons. "Alright, roach-y!" Mikey called out, the insect's red gaze falling on him. "Time to meet your maker!" Donnie paused, turning to face his younger brother.

"Wait, isn't that me?" he asked. Mikey grabbed the leather strap of his bo holder, throwing him forwards.

"Exactly! Go get 'em, tiger!" he said cheerily, backing away a bit as Donnie screamed. Lauren cast a scowl at him.

"Really? You threw him in first?" she asked a bit angrily as she strongly gestured to the geeky turtle. Mikey shrugged.

"Would you rather ladies first?" he shot back. Her eyes widened momentarily, mouth twisting into a grimace at what the bug could possibly do to her.

"Uh, point taken. Carry on." she said, turning back to face the battle. The cy-bug had grabbed Donnie by the face, throwing him to the side. It looked straight at Mikey and Lauren next, who both screamed as it advanced. Suddenly, a group of flying robots swooped in, firing like mad.

"You're _kidding_ me!" Lauren growled, running after Mikey as the Kraang shot at them. "You're frinking _kidding!"_ In the corner of her eye, she saw Leo trying to make a break for it with the diamond lens, but a robot came up and swiftly opened the case, swiping it away from him.

"Oh no, the Kraang has the lens again!" Mikey cried. Lauren's eyes narrowed and she ran after it, nearly forgetting about the roach and screaming turtle behind her.

"Mikey! Cover the roach for me, I've gotta do something!" she shouted behind her, just in time to see the incredulous face of her friend.

"What?!" he cried, but was now too distracted by the laser shots and cyborg cockroach whacking him aside to insert his opinion. Lucky break.

Her wings shot out and she followed the flying Kraang, cranking herself up to nearly her top speed in order to catch up with it. Soon, she was right beside it, and glared at the lens it held.

"Yo, Kraang! Remember me?" she cried over the wind, hovering in place as the Kraang did the same. "I'm the little girl who whooped Kraang's butt!"

"Kraang remembers the young human who is offspring of the weapons mechanic Kraang needed. Kraang requests backup from Kraang."

"Ha! So you admit it!" she laughed in triumph, only to freeze and widen her eyes at the second thing he said. "Wait, what?!" She felt her arms being grabbed, to see two Kraangdroids holding them to restrain her. "Oh, _heck_ no!" She quickly swung her foot out in front of her, quickly snapping it back so that her heel dug into the Kraang brain in the stomach. It squealed, letting go of her, and she swiftly kicked the droid beside her in the side, pushing it away in the air. he charged at the escaping one in front of her, trying her best to grab the small piece of diamond in its grasp.

It quickly developed into something between a slap-fight and trying to climb on top of the other. The robot finally pushed her off, holding the lens in the air in triumph.

"In offspring's face!" he declared in a completely emotionless voice, though still somehow managing to sound smug. The bird girl smirked knowingly, shooting up all of a sudden and snatching it out of its grasp.

"Ha! In _Kraang's_ face!" she said, one hand placed on her hip and the other holding the lens piece between her fingers.

The wind ripped it from her hand, and the two watched it fall to the ground in silence. They stared down at the free-falling lens, up to each other, and suddenly shot down, following it.

It wavered between the two of them, but finally they were both beside each other and flying at high speeds to the diamond lens. Out of nowhere, Lauren knew something was wrong with her going this fast. Poe never told her to go this fast at this altitude, there had to be a reason why.

She knew right off the bat. If she didn't slow down now, she'd go _ker-splat_ against the ground. It was either the diamond lens and instant death, or Kraang winning and living to see the light of day.

Needless to say, she went for the latter.

Slowing down ever so gently, the robot alien beside her shot ahead and grabbed the piece. He looked back at the glaring girl as he sped away. Lauren wasn't entirely sure how, but she could tell it was smiling evilly at her. She could just _feel_ it.

* * *

While that had happened in the air, there was a fairly hectic battle on the ground, too. After Lauren had lifted off, unknown to him, Leo ran down an alley to escape the blasts of a flying Kraangdroid.

"Raph?!" he called out. "Where are you?!"

Near the Shellraiser, these shouts seemed to be oddly loud. They rang in Raph's ears, but he found he couldn't move. In fact, he couldn't really do anything except think of that giant monstrosity of a cockroach out there.

"Raph?! Are you hearing me?! _Raph!_"

He shuddered behind the van, hugging his knees to his chest. He had been frequently muttering to himself over the past few minutes, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to wish away the roach out in the battle by sheer will.

"Why did it have to be a cockroach?" he muttered to himself, trying to shut his eyes even further, as if it would help. "Why did it have to be a cockroach?!" A loud thump echoed behind him as the solid metal subway car behind him moved, and he turned to face the mutant insect of his nightmares. "AGH! _THAT'S A BIG COCKROACH!_"

Donnie leaped up behind the giant bug, twirling his staff in the air and bringing it down to distract it from his terrified brother. He only yelped as it turned to face him, showing his hit had no effect. Fortunately, Mikey was there to save him.

"We're not done with you yet, spy-roach!" he snapped, spraying a can of bug repellent. The spray seemed to irritate the beast, as it clawed the air and screeched in pain. Donnie jumped behind it and landed a hit as Mikey stopped spraying a bit to take out his nunchaku and whacked the mutant. Whenever it seemed the bug was regaining some strength or about to land a blow on either of them, he stunned it again with the repellent.

Finally, the thing was on its back and screeching madly. One more shot of the bug spray, and it was over.

"Yes! Nail 'im, Mikey!" Donnie cried, and Mikey tried to. Unfortunately, the can sputtered to signal that it wasn't of any use anymore.

"Uh oh." Mikey muttered, and the cy-bug rose to its feet, raising the alien gun to shoot them, but it never got the chance. A tanker truck rammed into it, carrying it away from them. Mikey took the chance to smile, and swing his arm in a street-like gesture. "How's that grill taste, bug?"

The truck continued to drive on, the cockroach scaring the driver out of the truck. As the man tuck-and-rolled,The entire truck crashed head-first into a warehouse, blowing the entire thing up.

"Woo-hoo!" Donnie cheered, turning to Raph beside him. Lauren landed next to him in a crouch, keeping her gaze on the ground even as she stood up. "Now where's the diamond?" The raven-girl was about to speak up, but Leo interrupted.

"Raph lost it."

"Yes, I- Wait, what?!" Lauren began with her eyes trained on the pavement with shame, but snapping her head up as she realized what he was saying.

"Yes, he did." Leo growled, pointing a sword with a Kraang head on it at his brother. "Raph, where were you?"

"I was busy." he huffed, crossing his arms.

"Busy cowering in terror!"

"T-To be fair, the cockroach was pretty scary, Cap." Lauren interjected, smiling sheepishly. Donnie glared at her.

"Really? I didn't think you'd notice since you totally left us to fight it without your help!"

"I had a good reason for that, I was distracted!" she protested, mimicking Raph's action from a few seconds ago.

"I bet you were afraid too!" Mikey accused. "Girls are always afraid of spiders and cockroaches and stuff like that!"

"What?! I was not!"

"Listen, you two, the last thing we need right now is fear." Leo said. "I get that you two are afraid, but look what it led Raph to! He lost the diamond lens!"

"_I lost the diamond!_"

Everyone stared at Lauren in shock of her sudden outburst. She glared fiercely at all of them, continuing. "I lost the lens, alright? I flew after the Kraangdroid to get it back, leaving Mikey and Donnie to handle the roach themselves. I at least admit to that. I did get the piece-" she said, watching as their faces lit up, "-but the wind blew it out of my hands. I tried to chase after it, but I had to slow down unless you guys wanted a Lauren pancake in the middle of the battlefield, which I guessed you wouldn't. The robot got away with the stupid lens, so it was all my fault, so if I hear one more person blame Raph for the entire frinking incident or say that I'm afraid of cockroaches, I'm going to lose it." she finished. "I mean, why would I be scared of a little bug? I eat them for breakfast, I mean, come _on!_"

After throwing her hands into the air, they quickly shot down over her mouth as soon as she realized what she'd let slip. "Uh, nevermind. Forget that last part." she said bashfully, smiling and rubbing the back of her neck.

They boys all blinked at her, until Leo shook his head. "I'm going to forget I heard that." he muttered, walking towards the Shellraiser. "We gotta find the drill before the Kraang cracks open Manhattan like an egg!" They all rushed into the van, except for Donnie, who lingered behind with Lauren. He smirked, watching as the younger girl blushed.

"Cockroaches for breakfast, huh?" he teased, laughing. She glared at him, crossing her arms, but the blush didn't cease.

"Typical raven diet!" she exclaimed as he continued to snicker. "Ugh, shut up, you annoying little egghead!" she snapped, storming into the van with her face as red as Raph's mask. It somehow felt worse than the others to know that he knew that.

* * *

"You still blew it, Raph."

Lauren could pick up the conversation that the two eldest turtles were having in the front, and she winced. _Yeesh, he is_ harsh_ when the city is possibly going to be covered in lava._ After reviewing that thought, she figured it was fair enough.

"Just because Lauren took the blame for letting the Kraang get away doesn't mean you're completely innocent. You weren't there when we needed you." Twisting around to face his temperamental brother, he continued. "You gotta get your head together."

"I know." Raph groaned. "This stupid phobia is going to end up getting the whole team killed." He hesitated, looking up to his eldest brother in shame. "Listen, I... I'm sorry, Leo." He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked behind him to see Lauren smiling sympathetically.

"Hey, if it helps?" she whispered, holding up a hand next to her mouth so the others couldn't read her lips. "I'm a little scared of bugs too." she chuckled with a wink. He knit his non-existent eyebrows in confusion.

"But, didn't you say that you ate-?"

"Say? Say what? I never said anything bug-related or otherwise. Nope." she quickly said, crossing her arms and holding her head high, blush returning. "I never said anything about cockroaches. No way. What cockroaches? Huh? Wait, what happened? Why am I here? Where am I? Who am I?" she was wide-eyed now and looking around in a panic, but Raph could easily see the smile she was struggling to hide. He rolled his eyes and turned around in his chair to face the screen in front of him at her attempts to be funny, but only to hide the nearly invisible smile that tugged at the edges of his beak.

"Guys!" Donnie said, appearing on the screen. His image quickly changed to a map with large, blinking dots covering it. "Okay, here's a map of known Kraang facilities, and here's a map of the fault lines in New York City. Now, if the Kraang are drilling in the Earth's crust, this is where they do it." he concluded, a single dot blinking on the red map of fault lines and spots.

"Alright then, guys." Leo announced after peering closely at the map. "We've got a little more time left before the Kraang start drilling." As they cruised on towards the facility, Lauren couldn't help but notice the way Raph looked guiltily into his lap, and she sighed. Suddenly, a loud thumping noise interrupted her thoughts. All of them went on full alert, looking around the Shellraiser cautiously.

"What's that sound?" Raph finally wondered aloud whenever no noise answered.

"I don't see anything outside..." Donnie said, turning to his monitor. His eyes widened as he checked the camera below the bumper. "Uh oh. He's back."

"What?!" Raph cried, leaping up from his seat and rushing over to Donnie, effectively pushing Lauren into the wall along the way. "Where?! Where the heck is he?! He's underneath the van? He's_ underneath the van!_" Suddenly, he latched onto Donnie, trying to climb on top of him.

"You're frinking _kidding!_" Lauren cried, banging her head against the wall. "This guy is almost as bad as how you guys say Snakeweed is!" There was a loud whirring, screeching sound that stopped them all as the van swerved to the side.

"He cut the drive shaft?!" Raph cried as Donnie threw him off of him.

"How does he keep finding us?" Leo cried. Donnie seemed to take a short moment to think this through.

"Well, he could be using the homing signal I set up so spy-roach could find its way back to the van." he said, considering the fact thoughtfully. The others, in contrast, found this the perfect time to yell at him.

"There's a homing signal?!" Leo exclaimed, glaring at his genius brother.

"Dude, even _I _would've turned that off." Mikey said, facial expression saying 'uncool, dude.'

"Excuse me, Mikey, I've been a little distracted." he said sarcastically.

"Oh, so, you were afraid of the cockroach?" Lauren asked as she leaned on the wall across from them with a smug look on her face. Donnie narrowed his eyes at her.

"What? No. Why would you suggest that?"

"Just the conclusion you gave for me and Raph." she said simply, inspecting her nails and smirk widening a bit. "Just figured you'd want the same reaction to the fact that you were 'busy,' too." He paused for a second before replying.

"This is for teasing you about the cockroach breakfast thing, isn't it?"

"Bingo, smart guy." she said simply. "Now redeem yourself and save our tail feathers." Don just rolled his eyes and began typing away at the computer.

"Maybe, if I can use the signal to tap into his camera, we can see what he sees!" Lauren was preparing another sarcastic comment on how this would help them when Raph spoke up.

"None of this makes sense! Why is he so mad at us?" Raph cried.

"And why would we need to see what he sees? How would that help?" Lauren wondered, peering over the turtle's shoulder to get a closer look at the screen. Ignoring them, Donatello continued to type away.

"Aaaand..." he drawled out, pushing the final key, "Got it!"

A small video popped up, showing Raph trying to stab the roach with his sai. After a second, Lauren smiled.

"Wow, that answers both questions. Thanks, Don." she said happily, standing straight.

"Oh, crud." Raph muttered, as everyone looked over at him, or at least the short video of him trying to stab the spy-roach on all monitors.

"I don't think he's mad at us!" Donnie said. "I think he's mad at you!"

"Wow, that stinks for someone who's afraid of roaches." Mikey commented, smiling in good nature.

"I already got it, thanks." Raph quipped. "Are there any more surprises?" Just then, a large, wiggling saw burst through the floor in front of Raph. He stared at it uncomprehendingly for a second, then screamed. "He has a _saw?!_" Raph had to dodge the sharp, whirling blade, jumping to the side. "The cockroach has a _saw!_" he repeated, throwing his hands toward it.

"The universe just loves proving you wrong, doesn't it?" Lauren snapped, running up with her frying pan to whack the saw away on the flat, not-trying-to-kill-her side. Leo ran up beside her, slashing it off with one of his katana. The saw gradually slowed down, both it and the vine-like thing that had been connected to it oozing black sludge that made her want to barf. Mikey simply smiled and pointed at it happily, as if Leo hadn't just severed the part off of a mutant cockroach out to kill them.

"Not anymore!" Leo declared, apparently not giving any attention to the gross, black goop either. Lauren felt she was the only one aware of this information. "Donnie, the rest of us will keep the roach busy-!"

"We will?" Raph and Lauren chorused, looking at Leo as if he'd gone insane. Leo snatched Raph's plastron, pulling him closer.

"Yes!" he barked in his brother's face. He turned to Donnie, not letting Raph go. "You gotta fix the Shellraiser, fast. Like, _yesterday _fast!" Everyone except Don followed Leo outside, who dragged Raph behind him.

Raph clung to Leo's hand like a lost child, whipping his head left and right in order to locate the insect.

"Hey, spy-roach!" Leo called out. "Raph's out here! Come and get him!"

"Really? You're using me as bait?" Raph whimpered.

"Yep!" Lauren replied cheerily. From below the subway car, the cy-bug crawled out and stood before them. They dragged a screaming Raph away, Lauren lazily flying above them to keep up. They dropped Raphael off in an alley, watching the scene unfold. Right whenever it was about to fire its gun at them, the three others flew in and slammed an empty trash can over it. They slammed the lid over it, whacked it with various tools they found lying around, banged their heads against the metal, doing everything they could to disorient the cockroach inside.

Long story short? It didn't work.

At all.

They were easily tossed out of the alleyway and into the wall across the street. Raph made a break for it, screaming and running to the opposite exit of the alley.

"Not afraid! Not afraid." he repeated, in hopes that it would cure him. He kept running, trying in vain to slow down the unstoppable mutant chasing him. He threw some dumpsters in the way, but it just threw those aside. After repeating the words 'not afraid' a few times, he realized it wasn't helping. "Scratch that! Really afraid!" He jumped around a tile of wet cement, landing hard on his back, but he kept on running.

Finally, he reached a dead-end alley. The wall at the end was too high to jump over, and there was no way around. A loud crash where he'd come into the trapped space startled him into wrapping himself into a ball, covering his eyes and whimpering apologies.

"I'm sorry I tried to smash you, okay? I'm sorry! I learned a very important lesson! I'll never be cruel again, just leave me alone!" he cried, sounding as if he was on the verge of tears. The crashes continued, and finally he felt a giant shadow cross over him.

"On one condition!" a voice croaked, which he assumed was the cockroach out of fear and confusion.

"Anything!" he whimpered.

"Be good to Michelangelo! Ow- uh, and Lauren!" the voice said, pausing halfway as if it had been hit. Raph shrieked once more before realizing how ridiculous that sounded. How did the cockroach know his brother's and friend's names?

"What?" he yelled, eyes shooting open.

"Let them read you comics once in a while!" the voice said, now sounding rather familiar. Raph turned to see Lauren and Mikey, the latter crouching with hands cupped around his mouth, and the first with her wings spread out and creating an ominous shadow over Raph's body.

"_MIKEY! LAUREN!_" he roared, in which both of their eyes grew wide.

"Abort mission! I repeat, abort mission!" Lauren wailed, dragging Mikey away from a furious red-clad turtle to hide behind Leo. Raph was just able to land a kick on both before Leo separated the three.

"Ow!" Mikey whined. "So much for learning your lesson."

"Nice job, Raph." Leo said, patting Raph's shoulder.

"What are you talking about?" he snapped. "Where's the bug?" Leo only smiled and looked back to the street behind them.

The cy-bug was entirely grey and frozen in mid-step, the 'Wet Cement' sign in its grasp. Raph walked up to it, smiling in victory. He laughed, beginning to mock it.

"Oh, stuck, huh?" he said, tapping the head with the handle of his sai. "Not so tough now, are you roachie? You're just a... hollow... shell?" The head popped off, and the spy-roach's other appendages slowly crumbled to dust.

"He must've molted." Lauren said, poking the remaining bits of intact shell with her finger.

"They molt?" Raph wondered.

"Yeah!" Leo said. "Roaches shed their skins when they... get... bigger." he trailed off, looking off to the right.

"Dude, you're not kidding!" Mikey breathed in awe, staring at something in the same direction. Raph followed his line of sight, wide eyes landing on a giant, white, gooey creature standing right behind them. Two arms slid off from around his chest, flopping onto the ground, and revealed the disgustingly scary face of some sort of larvae. It screeched, four digital dragonfly wings sliding out from its pale skin flaps with a sickening ooze following.

"Why did it have to be a cockroach?" Raph croaked, staring at it in frozen terror. The wings on the newly molted cockroach terminator lifted it up, buzzing as the mutant shrieked. "And it flies!" he remarked sarcastically.

"Run!" Leo screamed, all four of them bolting. They twisted through alleys, stumbling over trash and curb sides. After they had almost lost the creepy insect, Raph tripped and fell on the paved road. The cy-bug took its chance, swooping in and snatching him away from the team. The next thing he knew, he was soaring over the rooftops with the disturbing thing licking his face.

"Hey! Come back here with that!" Lauren shouted, appearing next to them out of the blue. She rammed into the bug, looking horrified when she came off with a sticky goop coating her side. "Ugh!_ Nasty!_" The roach swatted her away, and she screamed as she tucked and rolled onto the roof below. Leo and Mikey caught up to her, helping her to her feet. "Okay. I tried." she shrugged.

Just then, the monstrosity dropped Raph into the dumpster nearby. They jumped to the alley below, running ahead to the Shellraiser. Raph ran behind them, screaming bloody murder.

"_Start the engine! START THE ENGINE!_" he wailed, jumping in the van.

"Donnie! Did you get this thing working!" Leo shouted, making it sound like more of a command than an order. Donnie looked up from his spot fixing the engine in the back, removing his goggles.

"We've got bigger problems!" he cried. "We gotta stop that drill!"

The cockroach suddenly appeared on the various screens around the subway car, and Raph cringed. He began to fire garbage wads at it, though it had no effect.

"What the-?!" he started, but never got to finish due to the interrupting insect that pried open the doors. Mikey reached it just in time, swinging on the top of the door frame and kicking it away.

"Take that!" Mikey declared. Donnie, meanwhile, was hammering the engine with an air tank. This seemed to start it up, and the teens were good to go. The van shot away from the psycho cy-bug, tires steaming from where they'd skidded against the street.

"I had my chance, and I couldn't face him!" Raph growled, looking at his feet angrily. "I just couldn't do it!"

"Look at the bright side!" Mikey chimed. "In fifteen minutes we could all get melted in a fountain of lava!" He paused, staring at the deadpan look Lauren gave him. "Okay, that sounded brighter in my head."

"Listen, Raph, what Mikey said reminded me of something." Lauren sighed, rolling her eyes at the orange-colored turtle's antics.

"Yes. We're all going to die because my stupid fear is slowing us down, I get it!" he snapped. Lauren planted her hands on her hips, giving him a look.

"No, you birdbrain." she sighed. "A saying that I remember. Courage isn't the absence of fear, but the judgement that something is more important."

"Wow. That mystic and vague comment is sure to help. Thanks." Raph growled. She shrugged, smiling and walking over to where Donnie was. She peered over his shoulder as he typed.

"The laser drill is just past the front gate." Don confirmed, a map of the Kraang facility popping up on the screen. "Kraangdroids everywhere. Hope you have a plan!"

"I'm gonna ram through the gate, and we'll go from there." Leo said simply.

"Works for me." Donnie shrugged. Out of the corner of her eye, Lauren watched Leo and Raph exchange disappointed looks. She bit back a sigh and leaned against the back wall, shaking her head. _I can't believe I'm saying this, but, poor Raph..._ she thought to herself.

"Uh oh."

"Uh oh? What uh-oh?" Lauren said, snapping out of her thoughts by Donnie. "We've had enough uh-oh tonight, thank you very much."

"We've got company. Again." he said, the video feed of a familiar flying pest popping up on the monitor. It slowly exited the view of the screen, a loud _thud _ringing from somewhere nearby. They all froze, listening closely to the silence.

"What was that?" Raph finally wondered, breaking the quiet moment. Another _thump _answered him. "Where is it?!" There was no noise for a few more seconds, then the rooftop hatch flew open, revealing the white mutant above. A long arm reached down and snatched Mikey, pulling the screaming turtle away before any of them could do anything.

"It's got Mikey!" Donnie cried.

"We have to do something!" Leo said from the front.

"I'm on it!" Lauren exclaimed, wings peeking out from where they were folded against her back tightly. She was about to take off whenever Raph spoke up.

"I'll stop it." he said, sounding sure of himself. Still, Lauren hesitated.

"Whoa, dude. You absolutely sure about that?" she asked warily.

"You don't have to do this just to prove you're not afraid." Leo snapped, scanning the monitors surrounding him.

"I am afraid." Raph answered, throwing open a hatch at his feet. The bird girl nearby peered at it, curious as to what was down there. She'd never seen the trapdoor before. "And that's why I have to do this. I'm coming, Mikey. No six-foot-tall cockroach is gonna eat my brother!" He jumped down, and right there, Lauren knew what the red-clad turtle was about to do was stupid, dangerous, and probably mentally traumatizing.

She only smiled gently as the van whirled around and launched Raph, in a strange motorcycle, towards the giant cy-bug. "Now that boys, is courage." she muttered, watching as the battle unfolded.

* * *

Raph sped down the road, drifting around to face the flying menace that held his brother.

"Hey!" he called, standing up from his seat. "You up there! Looking for me?" It flung Michelangelo away, onto the roof of the Shellraiser. Raphael watched in relief as his little brother scrambled into the safe confines of the van and it drove away. The roach screeched at him, following close by as Raph took off. It pulled some gross-looking balls of goo out from the flaps of its skin, lobbing them at the aggressive turtle below. Raph was barely able to dodge the explosions they triggered as they landed, swerving like a psycho.

Once the explosions had died down, he decided it was time to lose this thing. Pushing a button on the steering handle, a number of road-colored tiles slid over him, a small slit remaining where he could see the road in front of him. It camouflaged him perfectly within the road, undetectable by the spy-roach. After twisting through a side street, he smiled in victory as the cy-bug looked around in confusion. It had lost the annoying reptile that had wronged it.

Unfortunately, Raph wasn't looking as he crashed into a few trash cans, alerting the roach of where he was. It screeched, falling in above him. Taking out two more clusters of exploding orbs of goop, it threw them down to him, one landing on a trash can lid nearby. Raph snatched it up as he drove by, opening the street-colored shell and throwing it at the cockroach just in time for it to detonate in his assailant's face.

The roach crashed into a shop close by, and Raph whirled around, cruising away. The cockroach stumbled out of the smoking doorway, screeching and squealing madly, and darting after the red-clad turtle.

* * *

Meanwhile in the Shellraiser, the team was speeding towards the Kraang stronghold, taking out lots of Kraangdroids in the way. A group of them was gathered at the gate which was rapidly closing.

"Alright, guys, get ready!" Leo commanded. "We're going in!"

The van barreled past even more firing robots, heading straight for the half-closed gate. Lauren snapped her hands over her ears as they squeezed through the metal walls, the squealing they made against the sides of the van deafening. Finally, the entire subway car jolted forwards, catapulting them all to the front. Mikey crashed right into Lauren, sending them tumbling. Donnie ended up with his face against the screen, all of them groaning as Lauren pushed Mikey off of her.

"Get your shell offa me!" she growled, stumbling to her feet only to lose her balance fall straight into Donatello's lap. One arm went up around his neck to steady herself, and the other laid flat against his chest. Both of them blushing brightly after realizing the position they were in, Lauren yelped and jumped to her feet, grabbing the wall besides her for support.

"S-Sorry." she mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck as his stare didn't break. He'd noticed the blush on her cheeks and was about to question her about it, until Lauren turned her back and ignored him for the time being. "Cap? What happened?"

"Are we in?" Mikey muttered, dazed from the crash and when the raven mutant had shoved him onto the floor. The open fire sounds from outside began again, and all of their eyes widened.

"No!" Leo cried, grabbing his phone. "Raph! We're stuck, it's up to you!"

* * *

"_Get the drill!_" Raph heard his older brother say through the phone as he sped towards the Kraang facility.

"I'm on it!" he shouted over the wind rushing past, close to where his brothers were stuck between the doors. He twisted the throttle forward, just as the cockroach flew overhead. It landed right in between Raph and the gate, giving him an idea.

"This is either going to be really cool, or really painful." he muttered, beginning to accelerate. He rammed into the roach at top speed, using it as a ramp and soaring over the fence. He landed on his side, knocking down three Kraangdroids in the process. He grunted, crawling out of the driver's seat. "Okay. It was both."

Glancing over at a small chart some Kraang had decided to set up and was guarded by another, he punched the guard out and inspected the diagram behind it. "_The laser drill is at 400 meters from the Earth core._" it stated in a Kraang voice.

"Not for long!" he grunted, jumping on several platforms nearby that led to the drill. He clawed his way up the side, finally stopping at the top. A loud growl alerted him, turning around to face a not too happy cy-bug. Tire marks were printed across its face and chest from where he'd used it to jump over the gate. It stood there, as if awaiting him to scream and get this over with. Raph groaned loudly, slouching and throwing his head back.

"You've gotta be kidding!" he cried, glaring at the bug through his helmet. "Alright insect, you think I'm scared of you? I've aced your butt twice tonight! You wanna go for number three? _Do ya?_" He slipped off his helmet, hurling it at the mutant. "Come and get it!" The red football helmet bounced off of the roach's head, hitting it with so much force that it sailed off in the sky.

Raph immediately launched himself at it, punching it several times as it flew up into the air in an attempt to knock him off. They landed back on the drill, knocking it out of place to where it began rocking. Meanwhile, the said cockroach and turtle were staring each other down, waiting for one to make the first move. Finally, they charged at each other, the Cy-bug shoving him to the ground. It was about to kick the red-masked turtle, but he grabbed its leg and bit down hard. He smacked its face hard with the bottom of his hand as it screeched, slimy saliva flying from its mouth and onto Raph's face. He shot to his feet, shaking the roach spit off.

The insect simply punched him in the face after he regained his bearings, Raph recovering from it quickly in response and circling his opponent. He heard the drill continue to go beneath them, and the mechanical voice of the chart give an update on the depth.

"_The laser drill is at 300 meters._"

Raph slapped the cockroach, then blocking a grab with a grimace. The drill was going to bust through the surface soon, and the roach wouldn't back off. He was getting worked up, and what he heard next was the last straw.

"_200 meters._"

Raph screamed in fury, throwing the roach's wrist off. There was no way this stupid thing was getting between him and his duty to the city. Delivering a quick blow to the stomach and knocking the thing off of the large metal sphere, the drill chart gave its final update.

"_100 meters._"

He jumped off of the drill, impaling his sais into the wall and dragging them down with him, leaving two long gashes in the metal. Whenever he was about halfway down, the sphere began turning, resulting in him jumping back on top and running to keep it going. Whenever the laser on the bottom had reached the top, he seized the small plate the produced the ray and shot it at the recovering roach.

"Grill this!" he snarled, watching as the Cy-bug screeched and fell to its knees, exploding into a gooey mess. He redirected the beam towards one of the legs of the structure, effectively cutting it in half. He spun his sais skillfully, jumping up to catch his helmet that he threw skyward at the beginning of the battle, and landed next to his bike. He flipped his motorcycle over, leaping into the seat as the entire drill collapsed behind him.

Rushing towards the Shellraiser and taking out a few Kraangdroids in the way, Leo opened a small door from the inside that let him into the secret compartment where the Stealth Cycle was stored. Before entering the small compartment, he drove over to the control panel for the gate and freed the van. They quickly sped away, Kraang firing away behind them.

* * *

"Whoa." was all that Lauren could say after being shockingly silent most of the ride after the drill incident. After a minute or so of more quiet on her part, she managed to speak up again. "That was certainly... i-interesting."

"Please. You haven't seen the half of it." Leo sniffed. "Today was a _good_ day. Imagine what its like on a bad one."

"That's not what I mean. That cockroach kept coming back with an even stronger intent to kill Raph every time. I know cockroaches are resilient beings, but that?" She began to shake her head, running a hand through her hair. "That was _insane."_

"Well, the mutagen does have interesting effects on its victims." Donatello explained. "Like you said earlier, we accidentally fused an insect that could survive a nuclear apocalypse with some machinery. The result was a pretty dense mutant."

"I guess you're right." Lauren mumbled. "It's just, I... Nevermind." she sighed, rubbing one of her eyes. "Listen, I gotta get back to April's aunt's place soon before Poe has a cow. I'm out pretty late as it is." She jumped up to the rooftop hatch, poking her head back down and smirking. "Later!"

She took off for home, or her current residence, anyways. She landed on a fire escape, quietly opening the window and shutting it behind her. She didn't lock it, though. With ninjas for friends, aliens for enemies, and wings that may need to be used in a split second, she'd learned an extra escape was always handy.

Poe stirred in his cage nearby, the small door open so he could exit as he pleased. He glanced over at his best friend, taking in her slightly messy hair and dirty jacket. "Run into some trouble on your flight?" he croaked in Cavakian, ruffling his feathers a bit and settling down on his perch.

"You could say that." she chuckled in reply, slipping into her bed, fully clothed and too tired to change. "I ran into the guys and we fought a giant cyborg cockroach."

"A cyborg cockroach, huh?" he sighed, still half-asleep. "That's nice."

"Yeah. Stupid thing wouldn't die. It just kept coming back, and back, and back again. We seriously hit it with an exploding truck, and it didn't die. Just a small case of bad luck, I guess." she yawned, making Poe's eyes shoot wide open at her last sentence.

_Bad luck... Oh, good Corvus, maybe it's just a coincidence... Let it be a coincidence._ he thought.

"But for some reason, I just... I get a bad feeling in my stomach about it." she sighed. "Oh well... G'night, Poe..."

She was asleep in matter of minutes. Unfortunately, Poe was wide awake.

_A bad feeling, oh frink it... she couldn't possibly be going through this! I thought it through, she was mutated with my genes, so technically she's through with it... It all has to be a coincidence. It has to be. _

Right now, he could only hope that she wasn't going through what he thought she was. It all had to be a big misunderstanding.

But if it wasn't? Then it certainly meant that someone was going to die.

* * *

Hidden away on the Kraang facility grounds, a small orb coated in goo lays against the earth. It doesn't seem like much, at first, but suddenly something inside the think coating of ooze writhes. A small, bug-eyed face can be seen through the transparent sludge, and it screeches, revealing sharp teeth and a pointed tongue.

It's not a ball of goo, it's a mutant cockroach egg. And it's just his luck that he's there.

* * *

_PSP: Whew, well that took forever to finish... But here it is! I was aiming for a bit of bonding here between Lauren and Raph, so how do you think I did? Please review and tell me!_

_Lauren: Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. back up a second. Someone's going to die?!_

_PSP: Maybe. Only maybe. _

_Lauren: Psycho, we both know that you're planning to kill off someone. _

_PSP: Then why did you ask?_

_Lauren: Because- ugh, you know what? I'm really resisting the urge to punch you._

_PSP: Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's just do this after I sign off, I'm tired today. _

_Lauren: Uh, alright then. Remember to read and review my story, guys!  
_

_PSP: Set your imagination free, and remember- _

_Both: Summer belongs to you!_


End file.
